Spira's Revenge
by M'jai
Summary: It seems Tidus isn't the only ghost from Zanarkand, and Spira's troubles aren't over yet.  This is a revised and re-uploaded version of an older story, fourth book in my Final Fantasy X/X-2 fanfiction series.
1. Chapter 1: Spirit of Revenge

**Spira's Revenge**

by M'jai

Written 4/2006

Re-uploaded and revised 12/12 2010

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This is book four in a series. Books one through three are: _Spira's Dream, Spira's Sphere, _and _Neogenesis. _This story is heavily dependent on the concepts originally presented in those.

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Disclaimer:

The setting, characters, and inspiration for the plot all belong to Square Enix. Fans of the game will recognize which content is not mine, so I do not even pretend to take credit for it. My appreciation goes out to Square Enix and their wonderful game designers for giving us such inspiring entertainment.

Any resemblance between my fan-fic and other FFX2 fan-fics is purely unintentional. We are all playing the same game, after all, so it's pretty easy to draw some similar theories out of it. Hopefully, it will pack a few new surprises, though.

Also, please keep in mind this is a revision of an old, previously published story that was written before having a chance to play or see "Last Mission", so those events were not taken into account.

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Chapter 1: Spirit of Revenge

The summoner appeared out of thin air amid the dark halls of the Via Infinito. It was a dangerous place, this bottomless gateway into Spira's Hell, and he was overly aware of the fiends that could appear before him and strike him down into the grave with them at any given moment. He had come here only once before, and it had been incredibly risky to come back. The nightmare that haunted him had insisted, though. He was certain this was the place that held the answers to his questions. As his sharp, green eyes darted from side to side in the foul-smelling maze of barely lit tunnels, he angered that he had been chosen to carry out the nightmare's demands. In a cruel twist of misfortune, years of groundwork and planning had been stolen. However, if this plan succeeded, there was the possibility of great reward - revenge and continuance.

As a scream echoed throughout the confined labyrinth, the summoner felt his heart jump into his lungs. Backing into the wall, he hoped to blend with the shadows. From where he stood, he could see a ghostly woman fall to the floor of this level of the pit. Spira, the spirit of eternal life that sustained the bio-mechanics of the planetoid ship, raised her broken body from the floor that broke her fall and ran down the hall in the opposite direction. Though he knew who the ghost was and why she relived the terror of her death countless times in the course of a day so that her life energy could fuel the magical dimensions within the inner ship and the material dimension outside of them, the summoner breathed a sigh of relief anyway when she was gone. She was not the spirit he sought, though he supposed the subjects of his search were more deadly.

When he was certain he was alone again - or at least certain that he could see no other spirits - the summoner brushed a long strand of sand-colored hair behind his jeweled ear and continued his cautious trek down the haunted corridors. The soft soles of his leather boots and the multiple layers of the colorful robes of his profession made only faintest sound against the seamless floor as he walked.

"I know you're here," he softly whispered to the dark shadows creeping in around him. "You're in this place of unrest. You have to be. No one with designs like yours would be content to go to the Farplane for eternity."

His steps came to a sudden halt as he took note of an elder drake crossing the corridor perpendicular to the one in which he stood. He dare not go any further because he could not afford to alert the large fire-breathing beast to his presence. Sweating like an ice cold glass on a hot summer day, he made himself stand perfectly still until the fiend passed. Then, again, the summoner sighed with relief. "My magic is weak from my ordeal, so I cannot defend myself down here!" he hissed. "Please, I beg of you, if you hear me, appear!"

A ghostly form flickered in and out of a mist that appeared before him. "You have the power to summon the dead, yet you resort to cowardly begging?"

The summoner nearly jumped out of his own skin at the apparition's response, then was slightly insulted at its condescending tone. "My magic is weak right now," he repeated with a slight snarl.

"Then you were foolish to come here while you are weak."

"No more foolish than a spirit who chooses eternal unrest," the summoner bitterly answered.

The ghost remained calm, though his brows dipped slightly to match the bitter tone. "I am here to avoid being there. I hope you have something more interesting to offer me in conversation than complaints, or I might decide you should join me."

"I have come to ask a favor. There are those among the dead that seek another spirit, but without living bodies, they cannot enter the Farplane to find him for fear that they will be trapped for eternity."

"Forgive me if I do not sympathize," the ghost stated without emotion.

"My summoning magic is too weak to draw out the spirit they seek, and even if I could summon him, this spirit is far too dangerous for one such as myself to be able to control. The spirits that haunt me told me to seek out a more powerful summoner, such as yourself, for advice."

The ghost softly chuckled. "My dear, Meimo, if I could bring the dead back to life, don't you think I would start with myself?"

"But it IS possible to resurrect the dead," the summoner darkly reminded the apparition that stood before him. "Yevon could do it. He could bring them back and mold them into powerful guardians."

"This is true. However, the souls of the dead could not return to life in the same manner that they left it. The complex and morbid nature of creating aeons from sacrificial deaths had Yu Yevon standing with one foot crossing the boundary between what is holy and what is profane. No one understood this better than me. But like you, I could only summon the aeons; I could not create them. If you wish to bring the dead back to life, you will need the same kind of magic that it takes to create aeons. And for that, you will have to speak with Yevon himself. He is not here, however, so he must be in the Farplane, which means he regrets his former deeds. He will not want to help someone else repeat them. He may even try to stop you. And unless you have the magical strength to command him once you summon him, you cannot make him divulge his most jealously guarded secrets."

Meimo swallowed in nervous acceptance that the spirit was probably right.

"Perhaps, you and I could come to an agreeable arrangement, instead," the spirit suggested as it moved one step closer to the traumatized summoner. "I know for a fact that Yevon's magic regarding the creation of the aeons and Sin was somehow related to the guado magic that helped create this ship. As a former Maester of Yevon, I can tell you that the temples contain evidence among several well-hidden spheres that the founding father of the guado used the same kind of magic to create an aeon and a spirit guardian for all of Spira."

Meimo gave a weary sigh. "I have seen these spheres. I have even seen the spirit of the ship and awakened the aeon he created. They are of no help to us."

The spirit purposefully dampened his genuine surprise. "You awakened Maedra's aeon?"

"I found the hidden tomb and got Yuna to break the seal. Then I petrified both of them to prevent her from commanding it, but she escaped somehow. Yuna now has control of the only aeon left on Spira."

"Yuna ..." The ghost was silent for a moment, as if lost in memories, before speaking again. "But commanding is not creating," he reminded the summoner. "For Yevon to create aeons like Maedra, he must have found some way to tap into the ancient master's Art. And like all good students of the magic arts, Yevon probably kept journals of his studies and accomplishments." The soft-spoken ghost smiled at the living man's predicament and moved around him, stopping behind him to speak over his shoulder. A long tendril of light blue hair slipped between their cheeks. "If you can find Yevon's notes on how he created the aeons and bring them to me, I might be able to give your fiendish friends the new bodies they need to walk the Farplane like the living."

Meimo tilted his chin slightly to look at the dead summoner that he had dared to consult, but instead of a ghostly half-guado, he found himself facing a grinning skeleton. Seymour had faded away without warning, and three liches had closed in on their conversation from behind. Their cold, bony hands immediately grabbed for Meimo's face, hair, robes. He was horrified to find himself so abruptly caught in their grasp. As he struggled to free himself, he remembered his best defense and teleported out of the Via Infinito as easily as he teleported into it.

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Behind the cold-hearted fiends, Seymour Guado brooded through the darkness at the space that his former colleague had occupied. Over the years that he had known Meimo as a temple summoner, he had come to learn that the man had many unusual, strong talents. Summoning, oddly enough, wasn't one of them. He would be back, once he regained his defensive strength. Seymour was certain of that. But he was curious about why Meimo had been so weakened in the first place.

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The white dragon aeon had grown a little larger than a great dane since the day Yuna opened its seal. It had a tendancy to lope around with the same lack of grace, too. When it was summoned for days at a time for training, it was every bit the proverbial bull in the glass shop, so most of the time it wasn't allowed on board the Celsius. On this particular morning, however, it had an errand.

Arantisu trotted up the stairs to the loft where some of the Gullwings were still sleeping, and sniffed Paine's bed. It was empty and already made, so she moved to Rikku's bed and sniffed the toes of a foot exposed from beneath the covers. The strawberry blond Al-Bhed girl giggled in her sleep at the ticklish sensation. Arantisu immediately drew back when her sensitive snout was kicked. Trotting to the next bed, she placed her chin on the edge and stared hopefully into Yuna's face for a moment. Yuna was still asleep, too. The aeon's bright blue eyes shifted from one side to the other in silent observation, resisting the urge to jump on the bed and snuggle with her summoner, but Yuna was not her mission. With a slight whimper, the little dragon turned away from the bed and shuffled toward the unfolded futon frame at the end of the room. Once she had located the blond young man sprawled in the tangled covers, she sat down on the floor, set her chin on the edge of the futon, and began purring – rather loudly.

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Tidus opened one eye and saw nothing but dragon snout, so he groaned and turned his head in the other direction on his pillow.

After a few minutes of being ignored, Arantisu stood on her hind legs and propped her forelegs on his back.

"Go away ...," came the grouchy response, muffled within the pillow. But that only prompted the baby dragon to hop onto the futon – onto his bare back. Tidus's eyes widened and then winced as the weight of each foot pressed down on his spine and sharp talons began to knead his ribs. "Atch-tch-tch! Get off me! And cut your freakin' toenails once in a while!"

Arantisu had circled, settled, and slurped a long, forked tongue across Tidus's face before he could close his mouth.

The blitzball player barely had time to be grossed out before the dragon rolled over in a luxurious, long stretch and pushed him off the futon. "Agh! Barf … Stupid dragon ..."

Yuna heard the complaint and lifted her head to see what the problem was, but then she couldn't help but laugh when she saw what had happened.

"Hey," Rikku complained, lifting her head from her pillow. "Some of us were sleeping, you know."

"No kidding." Tidus freed his feet from the covers that spilled onto the floor with him, then stood and scowled at the baby dragon now sprawled comfortably across his entire bed. "That's the third time this week Paine's sent her in to wake me up like that. It's not funny any more."

"Sure, it is," Yuna disagreed with a sleepy grin. "You just need to see it from this angle."

Tidus gave Yuna a look of impatience, in spite of her amusement.

"Shall I send her away?" she offered, trying not to smile. Banishing the aeon back to the plane of magic was a simple task, but Arantisu really seemed to enjoy being around people.

"Nah, that won't solve anything. I'll handle this." He marched down the stairs into the main part of the cabin.

Arantisu sat up and hopped off of the futon to trot behind him.

Tidus strode through the empty kitchen and down the long hall of the airship to the lift. He touched the control panel that would take him down to the ground level, but then was shoved further into it as the dragon squeezed itself into the lift with him. "Oi, OI!" He bit off his urge to curse as the dragon shifted and turned. Tidus had no choice but to lean over the control panel. The doors had trouble closing, and when they did, the lift gave a peculiar sounding lurch before grinding to a halt. Disgusted, he dropped his chin onto a fist on top of the control panel's screen. "Great. I'm stuck in an elevator with an animal that exceeds the safe weight limit, crammed into the corner so that I can't move, and I didn't even get to use the toilet first."

Fortunately, it was only a matter of seconds before the jerky descent ended and the lift's doors opened again. The dragon uncoiled its bulky body and totted down the steps toward the open ramp out toward the beach. Tidus let out his breath without realizing he'd been holding it, but then headed across the belly of the airship and down the ramp after her. Hooking the top rim of the airship's doorway with his fingertips, he paused a moment to watch Arantisu run to the female warrior with short silver hair and receive a treat for completing her mission. The blitzball player frowned and released his hold on the door to jog along the shore toward them. Under the apricot sunrise, the sand was cool, and the air was crisp and refreshing, because neither had absorbed the day's strongest rays yet. But he wasn't about to let the beauty of the morning distract him from the fact that he had been rolled out of bed early - literally. "What's the big idea sending her after me like that again?" he complained to Paine as he drew near. "I was ready to get up on my own, you know."

Paine glanced at the sun and then glanced over his baggy shorts, bare feet, and messy hair. "Sure you were." The tall, reserved woman with crimson eyes patted the white dragon's supple scales and headed toward the sparring poles she had already set up in the wet sand.

Still protesting, he followed. "You've got to stop sending Arantisu up there to drag me out of bed. She's too big to be on the Celsius now. She nearly collapsed the lift this time."

"Then you need a smaller alarm clock."

"I don't need an alarm clock. I'm always up in time for blitzball training."

"And yet you are always late for your weapons training."

"Because it's too early in the morning," he argued. "Not even the birds are up this early."

As if to purposefully contradict him, a large seagull squawked as it soared low over his head and landed in the ebb seeking little crabs before they could bury themselves in the tide pools.

"We moved your weapons training to sunrise because you said you were too tired in the evenings." Paine pulled her garment grid from her shorts pocket and switched it to retrieve her two-handed sword, then shoved the tip into the sand, so it would stand on its own for a moment. "I don't suppose you remembered to bring your own sword while you were busy getting dressed to come out here?" Without waiting for his answer, she turned her garment grid selection again to find a suitable substitute for him.

Tidus opened his mouth to protest again, but then ate his words and tried to remember where his own garment grid even was.

Paine recognized that look and gave him a flat sigh of disgust in return. "Look, either you need to get serious about these lessons, or you need to drop them. I'm more than willing to train you, but it shouldn't be my responsibility to drag you out here on time."

"Well, I've studied the hand-to-hand techniques with you for about a year now, and I already know how to use a sword, so ... maybe I'll just drop the training," he answered in a somewhat cocky manner, folding his arms at his chest.

"You do_ not_ know how to use a sword."

"I may not have had formal lessons, but I can slice and dice whatever gets in my way. I invent my own moves, babe," the blitzball player boasted.

Paine's brow rose at his tone. "_Babe_?" She drew another sword from her garment grid and pressed the hilt into his forearm.

"Oh, come on!" he complained. "You know my fighting style by now."

"Humor me."

Tidus sighed and begrudgingly accepted the challenge. Walking a few paces away from the padded bamboo stick in the sand, he turned to face it and tried hard to gather his combat concentration in spite of the fact that he had just woke up. With a growl, he ran for the stick and began hacking left and right at it. Pieces of the padded stick chipped and flew away until there was nothing left of it except the unprotected stub that remained buried in the sand. When he had finished, he proudly held out a hand and grinned. "Ne? Eh?" He nudged her with his elbow, prompting her for a compliment. "And that was without using magic to speed things up," he breathlessly reminded her. "My sword skills are _fine_. And now that you've taught me some techniques without swords, as well, there's nothing more to learn."

Paine said nothing as she pulled the used bamboo stick out of the ground and rammed another one down into it, twisting it firmly into place. Then, she turned and paced only a few steps away from the pole before turning, and drawing her blade. Without hesitation she sliced up and back in two oblique arcs from shoulder to hip. The pole seemed untouched, and she had barely moved at all.

Tidus gave a short laugh and stepped forward to touch the pole. "You didn't even hit -" The end slid off right at gut level - one single slice, clean-cut all the way through. The blitzball player faced the warrior with a frown. "Show off."

Paine was about to deliver a sarcastic gem in response when both of them heard someone coughing and sputtering from behind the dunes nearby. The warrior stepped around Tidus and jogged to the dune behind him. Tidus followed. There, they were astonished to find a man drenched with sea water, lying in the sand. He had shoulder-length, razor-cut hair in an unusual blue color, but his eyes were shut tight, as if in pain. He looked as if he'd been washed ashore from some kind of horrible ordeal. Immediately, Paine put away her sword and hurried to his side.

"Is he all right?" Tidus stepped around them into the shallow tide and knelt on the other side to turn him over.

"The fact that he's coughing means he can breathe, but he looks pretty banged up." She indicated the red marks on his arms and legs.

"Tentacle slashes. Looks like something tried to slice and dice him while we were playing with sticks." Tidus looked over his shoulder, but the water behind them looked clear of any natural predators, or unnatural fiends. Regardless of how the stranger came to be in such bad condition, there was no question what needed to be done for him. Tidus passed the borrowed sword back to Paine, who put both weapons back into her result plate. Then, he turned his back toward their castaway and pulled his arms over his shoulders. "Help me take him to Yuna." When Paine had helped position the stranger securely over Tidus's back, the blitzball player stood and walked back toward the ship with his half-drowned burden.

Arantisu sniffed uncertainly at the strange new person carried by her two friends, but Paine issued a firm hand signal that she was not to follow this time. "Stay, Arantisu. This man is wounded. Stay out of the way for now."

Tidus heard a small, throaty whimper, behind him as the little white dragon sat down in the sand and watched the humans hurry to the ship without her.

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Fresh from the shower, Yuna wrapped one large, fluffy, blue towel around her body, before wrapping another around her long, unbraided hair. No matter how long the towel, her hair was always longer, and brown ends dripped on the floor behind her anyway. Clearing the steam from the mirror, she studied her own face for a moment. She was still only twenty years old, but she thought she seemed noticeably older than the last time she looked in the mirror yesterday. They had recently celebrated the one year anniversary of Tidus's return to Spira. He was eighteen now, but other than having slightly longer hair, he didn't look a day older than when they first met. She tried not to let this worry her, but sometimes … now and then … it did anyway.

After returning from the opening of the library at Zanarkand last week, Yuna was feeling reluctant to return to her official duties as the official representative of Besaid Island. Part of her wanted to be doing something more exciting – like sphere hunting. Now more than ever she had a reason to keep hunting lost spheres of Spira's history, but Rikku and Paine had been doing all of that legwork lately, so that she could spend time with Tidus and take care of business with the leaders of Spira's various factions. She was grateful, of course, for the time spent with Tidus, but even he had his hands full with blitzball playoffs until recently. Now that his Aurochs had won the championship, he could take a short vacation before helping out with the sphere hunting - if Paine allowed him to sleep in, that is.

Yuna giggled to herself remembering his rude awakening and reached for her face cream to begin smearing it on her cheeks. "There will be plenty of time to worry about official concerns later. We should do something fun for vacation," she told herself and began humming one of the songs she had learned for her last concert.

Suddenly a loud banging on the door startled her. "Yuna! We need some help out here!" Tidus called from the other side.

Yuna looked down at the cream in her hands and scurried to the door. "Right now?" She waited a moment, but heard no response. "But I'm not dressed yet." When there was still no response, she groaned at the inconvenience, but decided it was probably best to see what was going on. As much as she hated to do it, she set down the face cream and opened the door to peek outside. She could see Tidus, Paine, and Rikku, trying to carry someone up the stairs.

"Is he okay? Where did you find him? What's his name?" Rikku bombarded the other two with questions.

"Yuna!" Tidus called once more.

She could hear the urgency in Tidus's tone, so she clutched a hand over the tucked end of her towel and ran up the stairs after them. "I'm here! What's happened? Oh my! He's been attacked by something."

Rikku cleared space on her bed for their unannounced guest, then Tidus turned his back to it and gently lowered the injured young man onto it. As Rikku and Paine balanced him to prevent him from falling, Yuna leaned over the stranger to check his vital signs.

"Aahh!" Tidus jumped back, seeing her face covered in white cream.

"Oh stop it." Yuna lightly smacked his arm, then turned her attention back to her patient to examine the cuts. "He's been poisoned, but hopefully we're not too late."

Tidus leaned forward for another curious look at Yuna as she placed her hands over the wounds, one-by-one, and drew out the poison with her healing magic. "What's ... that stuff on your face?"

"Facial cleanser with moisturizer." She looked at him with a slight frown. "Is there a problem?"

"Ah ... no. Nope. Not at all." He backed away a step. "Just hurry up and take it off. It's … kinda scary," he cautiously, but honestly, admitted.

Rikku cuffed the blitzplayer's arm. "Don't say something like that to a girl when she's trying to look pretty for you."

"That's not what I -"

"Moisturizer helps prevent wrinkles. I have to take care of my skin. I'm not timeless you know." Somewhat insulted and still pouting, Yuna turned her attention back to the stranger that was finally coming into to full awareness. "How do you feel?" she asked him and checked his forehead for signs of fever.

The stranger opened his eyes, finally revealing their crystal blue color that perfectly matched his hair. He sighed with relief that his pain was gone; but then his breath caught in his throat, and he gave pause at the sight of the white-faced woman standing over him.

Yuna immediately recognized his expression and straightened, beet red with embarrassment beneath her white mask. "Fine. I'll go wash my face. But ... but next time I don't want to hear any complaints if it takes me a long time to come running to your aid," she fussed at Tidus as she turned and headed down the stairs.

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"I'm ... sorry. I didn't mean to offend her." The stranger slowly pushed himself into a seated position on the bed and examined his healed arms. "I meant to thank her."

"Well, at least you couldn't offend her any worse than her own boyfriend did." Rikku flashed Tidus an unhappy frown and cuffed his arm again for good measure.

"Ow! I didn't say anything about the goop on her face that time." He rubbed his arm.

"Boyfriend ..." The stranger's eyes fell on Tidus with a pause that almost registered astonishment.

"You can thank Yuna when she comes back," Paine assured him.

Rikku gave up on Tidus and sat on the edge of the bed facing the stranger. "What's your name?"

The stranger was quiet for a moment before he answered with a light smile and polite head-bob in greeting her. "Mekoshiko."

"Wow, that's a really tough name - Mekochikochi?"

The stranger chuckled lightly at her attempt to repeat it. "It's an old, unusual name passed down through several generations, I'm afraid. You can call me Meko, if it helps."

"I like Mekochikochi better." Rikku grinned, liking the rhythm of the new word.

Paine popped the back of Rikku's head, causing the younger Al-Bhed to yelp and rub the sore spot. "Now look who's being rude."

"What happened to you back there?" Tidus asked, leaning forward, hands on knees.

"I'm not really sure," Meko answered. "I fell overboard, and the next thing I knew ... Well, ... I was here."

"Overboard? I didn't see any ships out there. Did you?" Tidus turned to Paine.

"I didn't see anything, either." Paine shook her head. "Where was your ship from? We can ask Brother to give you a lift home."

"Oh, thank you. I'm not sure how far I've drifted, but I live in Zanarkand."

Rikku, Paine, and Tidus all stopped breathing at the same instant and exchanged surprised, doubtful looks.

Tidus straightened. "Zanarkand? You mean this Zanarkand, or the old one?"

Mekoshiko grinned as if the question were ludicrous. "Are you kidding? There's only one Zanarkand. Zanarkand's one of the biggest cities on Spira. It also has one of the biggest blitzball arenas around. I know I don't look it, but I'm actually a pretty decent blitzball player. I play for the Duggles." He paused. "How could you not know about Zanarkand?"

Tidus cautiously leaned forward again, studying his face as if trying to judge whether he should recognize him or not. He didn't.

The stranger blinked at their astonished expressions. "Did I … say something wrong?"


	2. Chapter 2:  One Big Happy Family

Chapter 2: One Big Happy Family

How could someone else suddenly appear from a living, thriving Zanarkand like that? Rikku instinctively poked a finger into the stranger's shoulder, but her effort to determine if he was real or not was promptly thwarted by a swat from Zanarkand's original native son.

"Cut it out," Tidus muttered.

"I was just trying to see if -"

"I know what you were trying to do. _He_ doesn't."

Mekoshiko smirked in amusement at the odd gesture and low conversation. "Do I look like a ghost or something?" He said it in a half-joking manner, but no one else seemed amused.

Rikku exchanged uneasy glances with Paine, and both of them looked to Tidus with slight worry. It had been three years since they all learned the truth about his illusionary existence - his creation from dream magic. It had been a difficult discovery for him to learn that he wasn't real. But over the past year since the Fayth summoned him back, the unease and concern over his unnatural state of existence had calmed down considerably. No one talked about it anymore. Tidus was just Tidus. Now, however, the two young women worried that the innocent words of a stranger might accidentally undo that calm. "No, but … Zanarkand has been dead for over a thousand years," the Al Bhed girl finally answered him.

"_Rikku_." Tidus gave her an unhappy, tight-lipped expression.

"What?" Meko gave an amused snort, clearly assuming this was a return joke, but again, no one else seemed amused. "Wait, are you serious? I was just there - _today_." He drew back with unease and disbelief.

In her over-sized nightshirt and pink, fuzzy Moogle slippers, Rikku stood and confronted Tidus. "You have to tell him."

"No." He shook his head in defiance.

"Why not?" Paine asked, siding with Rikku on the issue.

"Because it's too weird," he argued.

"Tell me what? What are you not telling me?" Meko warily asked.

Rikku lowered her voice to a whisper and pulled Tidus aside. "Maybe he's from the Dream like you are."

Paine joined their secret huddle. "Yeah. Maybe the Fayth made lots of little Shuyin clones, and you just happened to be the lucky one chosen to fight Sin."

"What are you talking about?" Tidus groused. "He doesn't look anything like me, … or Shuyin. Besides, the Dream was destroyed when the Fayth were sent. He couldn't have come from there."

Rikku noticed they were being watched by their worried guest and cleared her throat to signal to the others that whispering about Mekoshiko in front of him was probably not a good idea.

After a moment, Tidus found himself sympathizing with the lost expression that the other young man wore as he struggled to make sense of his new surroundings. With a resigned sigh, he left the huddle to return to the side of Rikku's bed. "It's true. Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago. And, … I know how shocking this sounds to you because ... I went through something similar myself."

The displaced young man pushed himself to stand and walked to the raised window of the loft to look out at the beach below. He was silent for a long moment as he stared at the azure sky, white sand, and clear water. From where the airship was docked, Besaid's primitive village and ancient ruins could be seen from the window. "Are you saying I … time traveled?"

"Yeah, ... kinda," Tidus reluctantly admitted.

Meko turned away from the window to study Tidus's features. "Are you from Zanarkand, too?"

"I used to play for the Abes."

In spite of his bewilderment, the stranger's face lit with an appreciative grin, and he snapped his fingers. "That's where I've seen you before! I knew I recognized you from somewhere!"

Tidus's pride in his former team returned. "You recognized me?"

"Jecht's son, right!"

Tidus's grin fell with disgust. "Yep, that's me."

"What was your name again? Jecht Jr.?"

"Tidus."

"Really? I could have sworn it started with a 'J'."

"It's _Tidus_," he insisted, trying not to sound or look annoyed. "And I happen to be captain of the Besaid Auroch's now."

Meko's drew back with a scrunched expression. "Be-who-what?"

Tidus looked over his shoulder to Rikku. "Was I this bad when you found me?"

"Yep, yep!" Rikku rocked from her heels to her toes. "But Sin's toxins gave you an excuse for acting stupid."

"Back then, perhaps - not now." Paine hooked her thumbs in the belt loops of her shorts.

Tidus snorted at the implication. "Excuse me?"

"Sin doesn't exist anymore, so Meko's disorientation can't be blamed on it," Paine explained.

"Oh." Tidus realized he misunderstood the implication, ... or had he? Reading whether Paine had insulted him or was just teasing was about like trying to read Auron's sharp wit and gloating smirks.

"Regardless of how he came here, though, you need to explain everything that's happened since Zanarkand's glory days." Paine shifted her weight and folded her arms.

"Me? I can't explain all that," he protested. "I barely understand it myself."

"Then, who explained it to you?" Rikku asked. "Maybe they can explain it again."

"Uh, ... you did. Remember?" His brows dipped, and he patted his stomach where she punched him in the gut before taking him captive.

"Oh yeah ..." She tapped a finger against her chin as she remembered the day she took him back to Cid's boat to make him help look for the sunken airship.

"But Wakka did a better job at making sense of what you said. And he was able to tell me everything I needed to know about the way things are now."

Mildly insulted, Rikku folded her arms with a "hmpf."

Tidus turned to face Meko. "You should talk to Wakka. And Lulu might be able to suggest a way to send you home. She's got a good head for that kind of thing."

"Can't you just take me back to Zanarkand?" Meko asked.

"Well, we could, but there's nothing there now but a bunch of ruins," Rikku answered.

Meko saddened. "I guess a thousand years takes a toll on a city."

"Well, … that and war," Tidus muttered under his breath.

Yuna came out of the bathroom again and joined everyone else near Rikku's bed. This time, she was dressed in a new, short kimono with a colorful floral pattern. "How are you feeling?" she asked the stranger.

"Hey, that's new." Tidus grinned appreciatively and gave a light tug to one of the long sleeves.

Yuna had pulled her wet hair over her shoulder to brush out the last tangles before braiding it once more. "Don't you try to flatter me after calling me scary. It won't work," she said snubbing him with an amused smile.

"We're taking Mekochikochi to see Wakka and Lulu, since they were such a big help when we all thought Tidus was crazy." Rikku touched her head and made a silly face.

Tidus frowned at her gesture. "I wasn't crazy."

"Back then, perhaps," Paine quipped again - this time with a definite undertone of amusement. "But telling your girlfriend she's scary is something only an idiot would do."

"Well, excuse me for preferring her without the goop on her face," he answered in his defense.

Yuna's attention, however, had turned toward the stranger. "Me-ko-shi?"

"Mekoshiko," the stranger corrected. "But you can call me Meko." He was pleasantly surprised to see what Yuna looked like without the white mask and gave a small smile at her attempt to repeat the ridiculous name as he bowed in greeting, ... and gratitude. "Thank you for saving my life." Turning to face the other two women and Tidus, he repeated the gesture. "Really, ... all of you, ... thank you."

"Aw, you're welcome. It was nothing." Rikku waved off the compliment with a slight blush.

Tidus gave her a flat side-glance. "Of course it was nothing. You didn't do anything. Paine found him, I carried him in here, and Yuna healed him."

"I let you borrow my bed." Rikku planted her fists on her hips over her baggy nightshirt. "And now the sheets are all wet so I have to change them."

"Oh, … uh, … sorry about that." Still soaked from head to toe, Meko touched his shirt.

"It's nice to meet you, Mekoshiko. My name's Yuna." The summoner folded her hands over her brush in front of her as she returned the short bow of greeting and smiled in her usual friendly manner. "I'm glad you seem to be feeling better now."

"I am, thanks to you. But it seems I'm a little farther away from home than I first thought."

"Mekochikochi's from Zanarkand," Rikku informed her.

Yuna was just as shocked as everyone else had been to hear this. "Zanarkand! You mean he's from the -"

"No," Tidus cut her off and gave her the same expression of warning that had failed on Rikku. "We don't know how he came to be here yet, so it's probably not a good idea to … assume."

"They're telling me Zanarkand is dead." Meko looked doubtful, yet worried as he spoke to Yuna. "That it's been dead for a long time."

"It's true," she answered with a sympathetic nod and looked to Tidus, clearly wondering why he didn't seem to want to talk about it.

"Okay, something weird has happened – obviously," Tidus admitted in a low tone, turning his back to Mekoshiko to face her. "But it can't be the same thing that happened to me," he whispered as Rikku drew near.

"The Fayth can still summon," Yuna whispered back.

"But they have no reason," he quietly answered. "Sin doesn't exist anymore, and neither does anything else that factored into bringing me here."

"But as strange as it was for someone from Zanarkand to show up once before, it's even stranger for it to happen twice," Rikku pointed out.

Yuna nodded in agreement with both of them as she thoughtfully ran a finger over the bristles of her brush. "You should take him to see Bahamut anyway and ask if they know what's going on."

Tidus snorted and shook his head. "_You_ might be able to take him to Bahamut. I'm stuck with Wakka," he reminded her. Pulling away from the hushed conversation, he gestured for the other Zanarkand native to follow him.

Rikku's mouth twisted in discouragement, but she understood his reasoning. Now that his existence was no longer anchored to the material world from within the Wall of the Fayth, the dense particles of magic that made up his illusionary body proved to be unstable when directly exposed to the Farplane. Sending Tidus back into the Farplane would be like putting a snowman in a tub of cold water - in only a short time, his pyreflies would dissolve back into the pool of magic.

In spite of what he had said earlier about her looking scary, Yuna suddenly felt compelled to wrap her arms around his shoulders before he could leave. "I'll visit Bahamut. Just do the best you can to put Meko's mind at ease about where he is now."

Tidus was halted from moving forward, but the impromptu hug from behind was a nice surprise. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek, reminding her not to worry about his own state of existence.

Meko had remained silent during all of this half-hushed debate. "Sin? Bahamut?"

"They were aeons," the small Al Bhed answered. "I'm Rikku, by the way." With a grin, she took Meko's hand and gave it a vigorous shake.

"Paine," the warrior woman introduced herself with a polite nod, completing the introductions.

Mekoshiko nodded in acknowledgment, but was at a loss for what they were talking about. "Aeons? I'm afraid I don't understand."

Paine put a hand to Mekoshiko's shoulder to rescue him from Rikku's overzealous welcome. "We'll explain along the way. We'd better get out of here before Brother wakes up and puts us to work scrubbing the deck."

"Wait! Wait! You have to wait for me to get dressed!" As everyone else filed down the stairs, Rikku ran back to her dresser, grabbed her garment grid, and touched one of the embedded spheres. Her nightshirt and slippers magically changed into a pink and red, heart-print halter top and shorts – her new thief grid. Then, she ran to catch up with the others, who were already out of the cabin and down the hall toward the lift. "Hey, I said wait for me!"

))((

Arantisu was still obediently sitting where Paine had left her. Watching the group head down the path from the beach to the village, however, she could sit still no longer. Determined to not be left behind this time, she ran to catch up to them, as well.

))((

Mekoshiko did an alarmed double-take upon seeing the large reptile running full speed toward them. "Woah! Is – is that a dragon?"

Yuna smiled at his reaction. "That's Arantisu. She's an aeon – maybe the only one left."

"Oh." He nervously glanced around at everyone as they strolled across the beach toward the island's interior dunes. "I guess that means she's friendly, since … no one is running away … screaming their heads off … or anything important like that."

Yuna patted the aeon's head after the dragon slowed and fell into step, trotting beside her. The sun shone beautifully on the creature's opalescent scales and glinted off of a golden chain and pendant around the animal's neck. "Arantisu was half-human, half-guado in her previous life, but she died as an infant. Her soul is ancient, but her mind is actually very young. It's a bit like training a puppy or teaching a small child right now, but I'm sure some day she'll be big and strong."

"Is she a thousand years old, too?"

"No. She's much older. We're just not exactly sure how much."

"How did she …?"

"Become an aeon? Her soul was magically transformed so that she could come back to life after death. She can't return on her own, though. I have to summon her with magic to bring her into this world. Her new body is made of magical illusion, ... but while she's here in our world, she's just as real as we are. Most aeons are protectors – spirit guardians, but Arantisu was just a baby, so she must be taught how to use her talents for defense. Do you understand?" she gently asked.

"I think so." Mekoshiko looked at the little dragon as she trotted happily alongside them.

Tidus knew what Yuna was doing in explaining things that way. He didn't like it, but he didn't protest. She was preparing the stranger for understanding what he was. She was preparing Meko for understanding what he himself might be.

"And she makes an excellent alarm clock the way she drags people out of bed when they oversleep," Paine added.

Tidus cut a side-glance toward her for bringing that up. "Then maybe the person training her to drag people out of bed should be training her how to fight instead."

"Maybe." The warrior's crimson eyes cut back in his direction. "She certainly couldn't do any worse than my current trainee."

Meko's attention shifted between Tidus and Paine's not-so-subtle verbal sparring as they turned on a dirt road and continued down the path toward the village.

"Don't mind them," Rikku told their guest with a wave of dismissal and she pushed between him and them. "We're all one big, happy family here. They just do this a lot because Tidus is embarrassed that Paine always kicks his butt at sword training."

The stranger's doubtful, but amused expression turned toward Tidus.

"Yeah, well, I always kick her butt in blitzball," he answered. "She has about as much chance at pulling off a good Jecht Shot as a chocobo has at a graceful flight." Tidus punctuated the claim by sticking his tongue out at Paine.

The childish retaliation was enough to pry an unwilling chuckle from the warrior's lips. She reached to smack the back of his head for comparing her to an overgrown chicken, but he dodged her swipe, snickered, and jogged a little ahead of everyone else. Then, turning to face her while walking backwards, he did it again. "Smart ass," she coolly retorted, instead of pursuing him.

This made Mekoshiko and everyone else laugh. "Hey, can you do the Jecht Shot?" he asked of Tidus. "What am I saying - of course you can do the Jecht Shot! He's your dad."

"Pfft! He didn't teach me how to do anything. I had to learn it on my own."

"Do you think you could teach it to me?"

"Mmh, I don't know." Tidus rubbed his chin in mock consideration as he fell into step beside him. "You play for the Duggles. If I teach you how to do the Jecht Shot, you might go home and use it against the Abes. That would make me, like, … some kind of traitor."

Meko grinned. "Ah, but if you go back with me, it would be an even match."

Tidus lightly laughed as they crossed the bridges under the waterfalls. "Nah, I have no reason to go back to Zanarkand. Neither of my parents are still around, and I don't have any other relatives. My family is here now." He draped an arm across the back of Yuna's neck, giving her a playful smile in apology for his earlier teasing.

Yuna returned a bashful smile, but then tried to remember why the Duggles name seemed familiar to her. "The memorabilia in the sunken stadium … You were on the team the Abes were supposed to play in the tournament before Bevelle attacked, right?"

Mekoshiko's step faltered with his surprise. "Bevelle attacked Zanarkand?"

Tidus frowned at Yuna's mention of that, but then realized something and stopped walking to face him with wary curiosity. "Nothing has attacked your Zanarkand yet? Nothing at all?"

Meko shook his head in disbelief. "Is that what destroyed Zanarkand? Bevelle attacked us?"

"It started a terrible war," Yuna admitted, reluctantly delivering the sad truth.

"Why did Bevelle attack us?" Meko asked, unable to shake the news.

"Long, … long story," Tidus answered before Yuna could. Slipping in beside her, he leaned close to her ear, lowering his voice just for her to hear. "If he comes from the real Zanarkand, it was before the war. If he comes from the Dream, it was before Sin. He didn't come here the same way I did – I'm certain of that now. But don't say anything else about the Dream until we can find out which world he came from."

"Why not?"

"Please." His brows drew into a fretful expression as he waited for her to agree to his request.

Yuna hesitantly nodded in agreement.

Tidus felt relieved. When the group finally arrived in the village of Besaid and made their way to Wakka's small hut, he knocked on the exterior door frame. "Rise and shine, Wakka! You've got company!"

"They're probably not awake yet. We should come back later," Yuna suggested.

The storm door was drawn back, and the curtain behind it was pulled aside, as a large man with fire-red hair squinted in annoyance at his early visitor. "This better not be no fun run, man," Wakka sleepily complained. "We won the Crystal Cup already. That means I get to sleep in now, ya?"

"Oh, I'm not here for a fun run today, but you can count on it tomorrow. Those were for all that 'presence' you have, not the game." Tidus grinned and patted his belly as if carrying extra weight.

Wakka snorted at the sassy remark. "Brat. What are you doing here so early, then?"

"Um, ..." As Tidus lightly scratched his scruffy blond head trying to think of what to say, he stepped to the side to let Wakka see their guest. "I brought you a new recruit! His name's Mekoshiko, or ... Meko."

Wakka blinked at the stranger standing behind Tidus. "Nice to meet you, but ... this season just ended. We won't start training again for a few weeks."

"Wakka's the team coach, and I'm the team captain," Tidus informed the new recruit. "I'm the one in charge of the practices, and he's the one in charge of yelling from the sidelines. He yells a lot more if you're late for a game," he warned in a lower tone.

Rikku was dying to spill the real news. "But Meko's a _Zanarkand_ blitzball player."

Wakka's chin dropped open. "Zanarkand? What, again?" He studied Meko more closely then jabbed a strong finger into the newcomer's chest.

"Ow. Why is everyone poking me like that?" Meko defensively drew back.

Tidus grabbed Wakka's wrist and pulled him out of the group to the side of the hut for a private conversation. "Don't say anything about that," he whispered.

"Is he real?" Wakka asked keeping a low voice.

"Even if he's not, he won't know it. I didn't – not even after I came back. There's no need to freak him out until we know more about how he came here. The circumstances that brought me here are gone now, so something is different for him." Tidus paused to give Mekoshiko a smile and a nod as if everything was fine, in spite of the fact that, once again, he was talking secretively about him. Then, he turned back to Wakka. "He's just confused right now, you know? I thought maybe you could kind of explain things, … the way you did with me."

"Explain what things?"

"You know – the island, the temples -"

"Hey, I only put up with you in the temple because you kicked the snot out of my blitzball."

The smaller athlete's lips pursed as he lifted a brow at this confession.

His larger buddy winced and scratched his head. "Did I just say that out loud?"

Tidus was amused at the slip. "I guessed as much."

"You looked a little like Chappu, though, ya?" Wakka tried to save face. "With that blue hair, the only person he looks like is Seymour. I don't know, man. He's not half-guado is he?"

Tidus pondered that for a moment, but then checked over his shoulder again. Mekoshiko didn't have the large hands, prominent veins, or stature of a guado – not even a half-blood one. His hair color was the same as Seymour's, but he didn't look like him in any other way. More importantly, he didn't act like him. "Nah, he's human enough. Besides, he says he remembers me from the games in Zanarkand. I'm just not sure _which_ me he remembers. But I think he's telling the truth."

Wakka scratched lightly at his morning shadow that managed to be present all day on most days. "Yeah, but what if he's, like, ... Seymour's son or something?"

Now it was Tidus's turn to wince. "Dude. That's gross." He shook his head and left Wakka's side to return to the hut, ready to go inside so they could all discuss this further.

"Woah, woah, wait!" Wakka caught Tidus's arm and pulled him back. "You don't want to go in there right now. Lu was up all night with Vidina. He's cutting teeth again, so they're all cranky and drooling and everything."

The warning was humorous at best. "Lulu's drooling?"

"You know what I mean. If you walk in there when she's like that - no sleep, not fixed her hair or makeup or anything – she's gonna get _real_ scary on you."

Tidus laughed and raised his arms defensively over his face in mock horror. "No, no! Not that again! Anything but that!"

Wakka and Meko laughed, too, but when Yuna frowned and folded her arms, they cleared their throats and coughed to cover up their chuckles.

At their sudden silence, Tidus peered between his arms and read their reprimanded expressions. "Yuna's behind me, isn't she?"

"And looking pretty scary," Wakka agreed.

"Who are you calling scary?" Yuna challenged stabbing a finger into his chest in the same manner he had poked his new recruit. "You should be supporting Lu when she's frazzled like that, not mocking her."

For a moment, the big guy looked like a small animal caught in a bright light at night. "I ..."

"How can anyone be expected to look good all the time? Especially when they're stressed out, just woke up, or … just getting older? And why does that apply only to women? Tidus was rolled out of bed this morning and hasn't showered or dressed or anything, but I don't hear anyone complaining about him looking scary."

Everyone's attention turned to Tidus's rather rumpled bed-hair and baggy shorts.

"Because I'm dead sexy?" he quipped with a hopeful, yet smug expression.

"Ooh." Wakka winced and shook his head. "Wrong answer."

"Want me to hurt him for you?" the female warrior offered to Yuna as she cracked her knuckles.

"Yeah, let's hurt 'em! You want scary? We can give you scary." Rikku pulled out her garment grid and touched a sphere to change into her warrior mode. "HAH!" But the small thief held out an empty fist, rather than a sword, and looked down to find herself standing in her pink fuzzy slippers and oversized nightshirt. "Ack! Woopsie!" Blushing in embarrassment, she examined the magical clothing grid and tried it again to figure out why it backfired on her.

Wakka and Meko started laughing. Tidus opened his mouth to say something.

"Don't!" She warned him, holding up a dire finger. "Whatever you're thinking, don't you dare say it."

"Did you intended to beat me down with a pink bunny pillow or something?" he managed to ask with a straight face.

Rikku whipped a fuzzy slipper off of her foot and shook it at him like a weapon. "You're lucky my grid messed up or you'd be in big trouble, mister!"

The Moogle eyes waggling in his face were too much for him. Tidus began to snicker.

Rikku growled and looked like she was going to bean him with the slipper, but Yuna placed her hands on her younger cousin's shoulders to calm her. "It's okay, Rikku, ... Paine," she assured them with a pleasant smile. "If they think this is scary, they haven't seen scary yet."

Tidus paused, his humor taken down a notch. "What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're doomed, brudda," Wakka predicted with a low chuckle.

"You're the one that called her scary."

"But you called me scary this morning and then brought it up again with Lulu," Yuna reminded him. "I'm going back to the ship to get some breakfast. Wakka, please tell Lulu to come visit me when she feels rested enough. We could use her valuable opinion on what to do for Mekoshiko, … and a few other things." She cast a cool, mischievous, smile over her shoulder toward Tidus as she walked away from the hut.

Rikku hopped on one foot while trying to stuff her toes back into her slipper. Then she straightened her nightshirt, and tried to be inconspicuous, hiding behind Yuna while walking through the middle of the village back toward the beach.

Paine said nothing, but she smirked at Tidus and Wakka before casually sauntering away with the other young women.

As if sensing solidarity was needed for her gender under these circumstances, Arantisu looked to Tidus, but then loped away after Yuna.

Tidus sighed. "Yep, ... I'm doomed." But then he let it go like watershed and faced Wakka once more. "Anyway, what do you say? Can you help with a tour of Besaid? You know, tell Meko about the traditions and stuff?"

"Might as well. I'm up now anyway," he retorted and glanced over his shoulder into the shadowed hut. "I gotta change and leave a note for Lu first, though. I'll meet you at your place."

Tidus easily agreed and Wakka went back inside to close his curtain and storm door again.

Meko had been leaning casually against the side of the hut during the entire humorous interaction, but as Tidus turned to walk away, he gave his head a slight shake at the friends' antics and followed. "What do you think they'll do to you?"

"Ah, who knows," Tidus answered, mildly amused, more than concerned. "It's always something. This sort of thing happens all the time. Rikku and Paine once conspired to have a spirit monkey steal some schematics and lead me and Gippal into a coeurl cavern. I was ready to skin that monkey alive by the time we got out of there. Buuuut, since we're nice guys, we took it to the Calm Lands and gave it to a chocobo keeper until they had scooped enough poop to earn it back." Tidus gave a lighthearted shrug. "They didn't like that too much, but it served 'em right, tricking and trapping up like that."

Meko chuckled at the tale. "Yet you really seem to like it here."

"Part of the adventure, I guess. Hey, wanna see something cool?" A small spark lit Tidus's bright blue eyes as he grinned and broke into a light jog, beckoning for his new friend to follow.

The two blitzball players jogged between some longstanding village huts to a newer one beneath the trees in the shade, just behind the first row of homes. It was clearly still under construction, as evidenced by the building supplies lying around. But the main framework was up, the roof was complete, and the doors and window seemed finished. Tidus pushed open the door and led Meko inside to survey the small, unfurnished, unfinished space. It smelled of fresh cyprus, bamboo, plaster, and ground sea shells.

"This is _my_ hut," Tidus proudly informed him. "Or, at least it will be, once it's done. Progress has been kinda slow, but Wakka, Brother, Buddy, and Cid have been helping me build it between blitzball training, games, and sphere hunting. I've been living on the airship for about a year now, so I'll be glad to have my own space when its finally done." He pushed open a window to listen to the ocean waves on the distant shore. The seagulls were beginning to stir overhead now, too. The village would be waking soon.

"So, you've been here a whole year?"

"Mmh, well, ..." Tidus had to be careful in his explanation. He still wasn't sure he wanted to say more than necessary about himself yet. "I first came here three years ago, but I was away for a while between then and now. It's good to be back."

"Three years? Wow." Meko walked to the window to stand beside him and look into the flowered jungle behind the hut. "Do you ever miss Zanarkand?"

"I did at first, but ... this is my home now. Everything that really matters to me is here."

"Are you and Yuna planning to marry? If … you don't mind my asking ..."

"I've invited her to live with me in the hut if she wants. She hasn't technically said yes, but she hasn't blatantly said no either," Tidus added with a coy smirk. "She's not native to the island, but she'd never live anywhere else. She loves this place, and she's a representative for it at the council meetings. When she's not doing that, she's a sphere hunter. And a singer. Oh, and she's a summoner, too."

"Talented lady." Meko gave a bittersweet smile. "Pretty and friendly ... You're very lucky."

"Don't I know it," Tidus agreed and looked around his hut with a sigh, trying to console himself with the fact that someday it would be inhabitable.

"I'll probably never see my girlfriend – or any of my friends or family – again, will I. A thousand years … They're all dead, aren't they." Mekoshiko drew an uneasy breath and turned away from the window scenery to stare at the floor of the hut. "I don't think it's really hit me yet. It's all just so weird, you know?"

Tidus's grin faded. Regardless of why the other Zanarkand native was here, he had left behind a life there. Tidus remembered what that felt like, once upon a time when he mistakenly thought he was real. "I know." Facing his new friend, he braced a hand against his shoulder. "We'll try to help you find a way home. But if we can't, … you're welcome to stay here in Besaid. If these people could accept me as part of their village, they shouldn't have any problems accepting you."

Meko gave an appreciative nod.

"Especially, if you can learn how to do the Jecht Shot for the Besaid Aurochs." Tidus's mischievous grin returned.

The other blitzball player looked up with surprise at the hinted offer. Then, he smiled and nodded in agreement.


	3. Chapter 3: Stranger Than Tidus

Chapter 3 - Stranger than Tidus?

When Yuna, Rikku, and Paine returned to the Celsius and started to board, Arantisu followed them to the lift, but with the three women already in it, there was absolutely no space for the baby dragon. She started to try to squeeze herself in, but Paine gave her a "no" sign.

"I'm sorry, Arantisu." Yuna crouched eye-level with the aeon. "You're simply too big. We'll be back out later, okay? We need to eat breakfast first."

Arantisu whimpered in protest, but obediently sat down in front of the lift to wait.

Yuna sighed sympathetically, but then turned and entered the lift so that Rikku could close the doors and touch the button that would take them to the cabin. "I hate doing that to her."

"She won't fit." Paine pointed out what was obvious. "I had to send her up after Tidus by herself this morning because there wasn't any room for me in the lift with her."

"But she's so lonely out there all by herself."

"All the other aeons were isolated to their temples for centuries."

"Yes, but they weren't as isolated as you think. They had their summoners, and they had each other. Arantisu's different. She never really had a chance to live before she died, you know? We're all she has and probably all she's ever known."

When the lift opened again, the three women passed between the strips of colored floor lights between the hall and the cabin, and the doors at the end opened with a hiss revealing the scent of cooking bacon.

"Breakfast's on!" Rikku grinned, thrilled to see that the ship's hypello chef and his darling were awake now. She was less thrilled to see a young man with a blond Mohawk and suspender-pants seating himself at the counter to await his portion of the meal.

"There you are! Where have you been? You woke me up with all your yelling this morning!" her brother fussed at her. "I heard you through the door. 'Wait for me! Wait for me!' You wakeded the whole ship!" he dramatically complained in a thick Al Bhed accent.

"Paine found a strange man on the beach and brought him to Yunie," Rikku happily informed him as she sat down next to him.

Brother gasped. "Yuna's with a strange man?" Giving the summoner a scolding frown, he slammed his fists with fork and knife on the counter. "Yuna should not be with strange man. Tidus is strange enough!"

"And that, my friends, is a fine example of the pot calling the kettle black," Paine muttered as she sat down on the other side of Rikku.

Rikku giggled at the warrior's remark and then waved off her brother's reaction. "No, no, no. It's not like that at all."

"Did you just come in?" Behind them, a coverall-dressed older man with a bald head and a stern expression came out of the men's bunks to join them. Cid gave his daughter's appearance a questionable once-over. "Don't tell me you were out there traipsing around all over the island in your jammies."

Rikku consciously pulled her baggy nightshirt down over her knees and winced in embarrassment. "My grid messed up. Don't think I did this on purpose, you know."

"Grid?"

"I tried to switch to my warrior sphere, but it somehow put me in this."

"How did those clothes get in your armor spheres?"

"This is what I was wearing before I used the grid."

"Shinra told you before he left that you can't put new clothing into the garment grid without a dress sphere assigned to them," her father reprimanded her. "Now your warrior sphere can't dress you in nothing but fuzzy slippers and a nightshirt."

Rikku gasped at having forgotten that little detail. "What? Then where's my warrior clothing? I can't fight fiends in a nightshirt and slippers!"

"Sure you can. All you need is a pillow or a plushie," Paine smiled, teasing the younger girl Tidus's previous words.

"Maybe Lulu will let you borrow one of her moogles." Yuna smiled in so that her eyes squinted shut.

"But that means I've lost my best sword and armor," Rikku pouted in answer to their teasing.

"No one cares about your lost moogles!" Brother interrupted. "We want to know why Yuna is with a strange man!"

Cid turned a sharp eye on his niece. "What strange man?"

Yuna giggled a bit to herself and removed her arms from the counter top so that Darling could place plates before them. "He's from Zanarkand, from a time before the war, only we don't know how he came to be here yet. Tidus says he couldn't be from the Dream. I suppose he has a point, but I can't imagine how else he could come here."

"His name's Meko-something, and he's reeaaaally nice." Rikku added, reclaiming her excitement at seeing the food was almost ready.

"Maybe he ish hungry, too?" the female hypello suggested. "Zanarkand ish long, long way away. Yoo should ashk him to eat wit yoo."

Yuna looked to Paine and Rikku with worry. "I didn't even think of that. Should we go back and invite him for breakfast?"

"It's not really his fault that Tidus and Wakka were being stupid when we left," Rikku answered in agreement.

"WHY is Yuna with strange man that is stranger than Tidus?" Brother loudly insisted that someone answer his question.

"Yuna's seeing someone stranger than Tidus?" Buddy, the brown-skinned, blond-headed navigator of the ship, arrived freshly dressed from his shower and couldn't believe the conversation that he had stumbled upon. "When did that happen?"

"It didn't," Yuna patiently answered, though this was getting out of hand. "Paine and Tidus found Meko on the beach and brought him to me so I could heal him – nothing more," she explained to Buddy, but then looked to Brother to see if that answered his question.

"But this strange man is even stranger than Tidus," Brother added for Buddy.

"O-kaaay." Buddy sat down and accepted a plate from Darling. "How can anyone get stranger than Tidus? He's an illusion."

"It's not strange because he's an illusion; it's strange because this new guy shouldn't be an illusion," Yuna answered. "He says he's from Zanarkand, but the Dream no longer exists and there's no way he could have come from the real one. Is there?"

"A-HAH! So you admit that Tidus is strange!" Brother stood and pointed to Yuna while grinning victoriously.

Yuna sighed in defeat, shook her head with a tolerant smile, and sampled her eggs and bacon. Brother could continue to think whatever he wanted.

"Speaking of strange," Rikku spoke as she stuffed her mouth with a blueberry muffin. "Can anyone help us think of a way to get Tidus back for calling Yunie scary this morning? We need a really good practical joke to play on him."

"You could smear his face with facial cream while he's napping," Paine suggested.

Rikku giggled at that option. "No, that wouldn't work. He'd wake up too easily."

The warrior smirked to herself as she lifted her glass of juice. "Not if he's under a sleep spell."

Rikku gasped, stood, and clasped her hands in hopeful excitement. "You mean like that time you cast those sleep spells on Brother all night so Tidus could sleep in the cabin instead of the engine room?" She clapped with glee at the idea.

"Whaaaat?" Brother stiffened and faced Paine with a frown.

Paine scowled at the Al-Bhed girl for giving away their secret.

"So, where is this strange man?" Buddy asked, reaching for the butter. "Is he with Tidus?"

"Yes," Yuna answered as she pinched off a corner of her toast. "Tidus is hoping Wakka can tell him enough about Besaid to help him adjust to the changes that happened between his lifetime and ours. He already told him about Zanarkand being long gone, which upset him, of course."

"Do you think maybe there is another Dream Zanarkand?" the sensible navigator asked.

Yuna shook her head. "Why would there be? It was created by Yevon to sustain Zanarkand's memories. But now he's gone, so there's no need for another one."

The com sphere alert sounded, indicating that someone was trying to contact the ship. "I'll get it," Buddy volunteered, stopped buttering his toast, and scooted off of his seat. As the navigator opened the door to leave the cabin, a woman with a small red-headed child entered behind him. "Hey, little man! Looks like you're finally getting bigger than that blitzball your dad wants you to pick up." Buddy patted the baby's head, greeted Lulu with a grin, then jogged down the hall to the lift.

The graceful black mage smiled in return and then turned her attention toward the Gullwings crew gathered at the kitchen bar. "I found a note from Wakka saying that a little bird paid me a visit very early this morning. I'm sorry I wasn't available, but it was a very long night," she told them as she drew near.

"So we heard." Yuna stood to greet Lulu with a sympathetic hug, then lightly tapped the baby's rosy cheeks between her index fingers to coax a sloppy, wet grin from him. "Somebody's getting some new teeth. And you don't feel one bit of guilt for keeping your mother up all night, do you?" She reached to take Vindina into her arms, and Lulu gladly released him. "He's getting so heavy," Yuna remarked, surprised at his fast growth.

The one-year-old squealed with delight and immediately grabbed two fist-fulls of Yuna's long, unbraided hair.

"Aaaahhh! Help!" She winced and held perfectly still. "He's holding me hostage."

Paine finished off her last bite, eating quickly for having been awake longer than anyone else. Then, she stood to pry the small hands away from her friend's hair. "Wow, that's a strong grip. Let me know when you're ready to try that out on a sword."

Lulu sat down in Buddy's previously occupied seat. "He's already tried out that grip on every fragile valuable item in the house, including my fragile valuables. Did I say he liked my fragile valuables? What I meant to say is he likes my fragile valuables."

Everyone chuckled lightly at her stress.

As Paine managed to free one fistful of Yuna's hair, the baby would grin, giggle and grab another fistful before she could manage to loosen the other one.

"Ahhhh!" Yuna winced again. "He's really strong!" She tried to laugh in spite of the pain. "He's going to be as strong as Wakka someday, I think."

"And no one warned me how fast they could move at this age," Lulu added.

Rikku jumped up and positioned herself on the other side of Yuna's head, opposite Paine. Taking one chubby fist and looking to her friends with a nod, she prompted them to work as a team. "Ready – go!" On cue, both of them uncurled the baby's grip and Yuna stiffened her arms to hold him at a distance. Yuna was free and everyone chuckled again.

"Yay, Thanks!" She laughed lightly with her friends and sat down, careful to keep the toddler on her knees - away from her hair - this time.

"So ..." Lulu brushed a hair from her indigo top and straightened her black skirt as she crossed her legs and smirked at seeing someone else try to cope with what she had to handle all day long. Though most of her jewelry items had been quietly retired until they were no longer a choking hazard, the black mage still dressed in a very non-island-like sophisticated style. "What was I summoned for?"

"Yuna is seeing a strange man that is stranger than Tidus," Brother informed her.

"Mm, that is strange - especially coming from you," Lulu answered without batting an eye.

"He says he's from Zanarkand," Yuna inserted the real news.

Lulu's brows lifted this time, then she stood and picked up Yuna's hairbrush to begin braiding it for her, so her son wouldn't pull it again. "Now _that_ is strange."

"Tidus took him to talk with Wakka so that he wouldn't feel so weird about being here," Rikku added after washing down her breakfast with a glass of orange juice.

"But I found him on the beach after what looked like a drowning accident, so he doesn't know how he came to be here, and neither do we," Paine added.

"I'm going to talk to Bahamut to see if he knows anything about another Dream Zanarkand," Yuna told her. "But we thought you might have some ideas on what happened, since you know so much about how magic works. Do you have any idea why someone from Zanarkand's past would show up again like this, now that everything that brought Tidus to us no longer exists?"

Lulu frowned slightly as she put down the brush and began weaving Yuna's hair. "Besides the Dream itself, Tidus's time magic is the closest thing that I've seen to actual time travel. Did this guy say anything about what happened before he arrived here?"

"No. We didn't really get to ask him about himself because we were more concerned about keeping him calm about being here."

"If there's a problem with Spira's ability to process time, it might be something related to the inner workings of the ship's engine and the Farplane," Cid suggested, dropping a used napkin on an empty breakfast plate. "Gippal's still got the Machine Faction working under Bevelle doing repairs. You should talk to him as well. Maybe he's noticed something lately - or touched some kind of control that he shouldn't have."

"Time travel caused by a machina malfunction?" Yuna asked with curiosity. She hadn't considered that option.

"There's a whole bunch of them gadgets and switches down there that no one knows what they do," Cid pointed out. "You gotta remember that this ship was built long before any of us saw daylight, and it didn't come with no owner's manual. Gippal's smart enough to know not to go pushing buttons that he don't understand, but something might have accidentally shifted that he doesn't know about. I'd recommend he do a review diagnostic or retrace his steps in some other way to make sure everything is exactly the way they found it."

"Mh," Yuna nodded in thoughtful agreement with her uncle. "But if it's not actual time travel, is it possible that Spira could have another alternate reality, kind of like another Dream? I mean, that's kind of what the dream was, right? An alternate reality based on memories?"

Lulu picked up the brush again as she neared the end of her work. "The Dream was fabricated of magic, though. It didn't really exist."

Yuna winced lightly as her hair was pulled tight. The baby on her knees reached for the butter knife on the counter, but she pushed the plate and utensils out of his reach and tried distracting him by bouncing him. "But Tidus and Shuyin saw Zanarkand differently in some ways. So, even if Tidus's Zanarkand wasn't real, it was like another world. Talking to them is like having to acknowledge two different Spiras."

"You mean the Dream was like a whole other world? I never thought of it that way." Rikku was awed at the thought. "I always just thought of it as a fake Spira."

"Are there any blueprints that map the Farplane?" Lulu asked of Cid.

"Not that I know of," the engineer answered as he stood. "We only have the schematics on the immediately reachable areas just inside the Abyss. There's a whole heck of a lot about this ship that we still don't know anything about."

"When we were in the Abyss trying to hunt down Shuyin, ... when he set my aeons on me," Yuna spoke in a soft voice as she followed Lulu's trail of thought, "it really did feel like a whole other world down there. It was dark and had really narrow, dangerous pathways. But it was huge and loaded with fiends. I can't help but wonder, if other places exist between the dungeons under Bevelle and the Abyss. What else might be out there that we don't know about?"

"But what reason would the ship's makers have for duplicating cities?" Paine asked with doubt. "Yevon had his reasons for creating the Dream, but who else would have a reason to do something like that? And yet, anything's possible, I guess."

"If there's one thing we should have learned through all of this, it's not to make assumptions about what Spira really is," Lulu reminded them. "I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest, except that maybe you should try to map the Farplane and see if it holds any more secrets."

"Maybe Bahamut would know more about that," Yuna agreed.

"I will tell you this," Lulu added. "From my own studies of magic, the way that pyreflies react with one another is a bit like water."

"Water?" Paine questioned, quirking a brow of interest.

"Water molecules will cling to each other before they will cling to something different," the mage explained. "If you touch a wet cloth to a spill, it will immediately absorb it. But if you touch a dry cloth to a spill, it takes it a moment. It may even smear the spill rather than picking it up. In zones of magic, the pyreflies cling to one another like water molecules. That's how they can create streams of magic in certain places where the veil between the material and spirit worlds are thin. Magic flows down these streams more easily than when we try to pull it into a dry zone in reality."

"Huh?" Brother blinked, not understanding any of this.

Lulu sighed at having to explain it in even more simplistic terms. "In other words, the Farplane might be touching another magical dimension and creating a path between them, allowing passage from a place like the Dream into this world. It's a weak theory, but it's all I can offer at the moment."

"But if that was true, Meko would have ended up in the Farplane instead of the beach, ... wouldn't he?" Paine asked. "I found him behind a dune not too far from here."

"Then maybe there is a stream of Farplane magic not far from here that also touches the Zanarkand he came from. Wakka once said that Tidus showed up just off the shore when he first came here. And that is where he showed up again when he returned, remember?"

Yuna was stunned to realize the mage was correct in making that connection.

"I recommend that you find out as much as you can about what happened to our new Zanarkand guest before he came here," Lulu suggested as she finished Yuna's braid and put the brush back down. "See how much he knows about the Farplane. Right now we don't have enough information to even begin figuring this out."

"Mh," Yuna nodded in agreement as she continued to bounce the baby on her knees.

Just then, the door slid open again, and Buddy re-entered the cabin. "That was Baralai. He said he had something very important to talk to you about, so he's on his way in from Bevelle."

"But I was going to Bevelle to talk to Bahamut." Yuna pouted slightly that her plans were being unraveled, but she gathered the chubby toddler into her arms and stood. "I'll call him back and let him know I'm coming there, instead."

"He said he wanted to talk to Tidus, too," Buddy added. "Must be important."

As Yuna gave him a puzzled look, Rikku stole the baby from her. "No more pulling hair, ya?" she imitated Wakka, tapping the baby's button nose. "Oh! By the way, … Lulu, did you know that Wakka called you scary this morning?"

The black mage was unaffected as she accepted a glass of juice from the female hypello from across the counter. "He always does that. Especially when he knows he's done something wrong."

"Yeah, but this time he said you were scary without your make-up and hair fixed."

Lulu lowered her glass and looked to the other two women for confirmation. They nodded.

"Rikku ..." Yuna smiled in mild embarrassment, not wanting to cause trouble for the couple.

"Tidus called Yuna scary this morning for having face cream on, and he made fun of me when my grid messed up, too," the Al Bhed girl added. "So, we have to do something to get them back. Any ideas?"

"Your garment grid messed up?" Lulu asked, curious.

Rikku pulled the magical device from her pocket and attempted to test the warrior sphere again, but it didn't respond at all. "Stupid grid. Why'd it have to break like that? Now, I'm going to have to find Shinra and ask him to fix it."

"Maybe you can fix it yourself," Yuna suggested with a smile. "You're an Al-Bhed, Rikku. You can fix anything you put your mind to."

"Yeah, well, Shinra's inventions are usually way beyond any of the rest of us. The little runt could have at least left us with instructions, or that gizmo that could convert the spheres."

"But he told you not to put anything in the grid that had no sphere," Brother finally spoke again. "I would call that instruction." He gave a shrug reflecting the obviousness of it.

"How did it break?" Lulu asked.

"I was wearing this when I switched to my thief sphere, but when I tried to change to my warrior sphere, I ended up back in this," the thief explained to the mage. "I can't get the warrior sphere to give me my leather armor and sword now."

Lulu slipped the golden plate from Rikku's fingers to study it for a moment. Then, she smiled in an amused, devious manner. "Let's not fix it just yet."

Buddy looked to Cid and Brother. "Well, if we're going to help Tidus and Wakka on that hut today like we promised, we'd better get crackin'." He grabbed his toast and his last piece of bacon, then pushed the empty plate toward the back of the counter. "Thanks, Darling. It was delicious as always."

"Thank yooo. Take shome to Tidush." The female hypello grinned a lazy, frog-like grin and passed a bag to him. "He likesh to eat breakfasht, too."

))((

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Meko spoke as he helped Tidus and Wakka push an exterior wall frame reinforcement into place. "I'm supposed to do a blitzball cheer when I see these Yevonites, even though you don't like them anymore?"

"It's tradition," Wakka firmly reminded him. With a grunt, he snapped the heavy frame into place and pressed his shoulder against it to hold it up.

"You don't actually cheer." Lighter weight Tidus scurried up the bamboo scaffolding nearby and crossed the roof to nail the new framework to the old. "It's a prayer and a greeting. So you do it kind of reverently, you know?" He hammered the frame some more and paused to wipe the sweat from his brow. From his high position, he could see across the busy village to the gates. Buddy, Cid, and Brother were on their way to join them. "Looks like the relief team is coming."

"Good! This thing is heavy!" Meko answered with a grunt. "What'd you fill these poles with?"

"It's a concrete made of ground shells," Wakka informed him with a proud grin. "Considering all we had to put up with because of Sin, people on this island knows the value of weighing stuff down for strong storms, ya? This hut ain't going nowhere." He gave the wall a firm, appreciative slap.

"Okay, what is this Sin thing you guys keep mentioning?" Meko tried to hold his end steady while Tidus moved along the top and continued to nail it into place.

"You know I told you about how the temples worship Yevon, ya?" Wakka squinted up at Tidus's work while answering the other Zanarkand native.

"Because he was the High Summoner of Zanarkand."

Tidus stopped hammering and looked to Mekoshiko from his precarious rooftop position. Then, after a thoughtful moment, he continued hammering until he reached the last stud. "See if it holds," he called down to them.

Wakka turned his attention back to their guest. "Okay, well, when Zanarkand was destroyed, Yevon turned himself into an aeon by merging with the souls of the dead and possessing them. Then he attacked Bevelle for attacking Zanarkand. Thing is, once he became Sin, he couldn't un-become Sin, ya?"

Wakka and Meko carefully, tentatively released their ends of the wall to see if it held. Wakka gave it another hit, then gave Tidus a thumbs-up. "Solid!" The big man wiped his brow on his arm and climbed up the scaffolding to join his younger buddy.

"Anyway," he called back down to Meko, "His daughter, Lady Yunalesca, came up with a way to kind of soothe that desire for revenge, but it required a new aeon sacrifice every ten years." He angered as he knelt to help Tidus complete the reinforcement pinning. "For a thousand years we were feeding high summoners and their guardians to that thing as the sacrificial aeon, and no one knew the truth about why. The Yevonites didn't tell anyone that the sacrifices were helping Sin to continue living in a new body. We just thought they died trying to defeat it. We thought that one day, someone would be strong enough to kill it so that it couldn't ever came back because that's what they told us could happen if everyone followed the teachings of Yevon. But that was never really their plan. The plan was to keep feeding it - keep it alive." He slammed the hammer into the head of a nail, and paused to look down at Meko. "Yuna's father Lord Braska was the last high summoner to be a sacrifice. Yuna volunteered to be the next one, but Yuna's smart." He tapped two fingers to his temple. "Yuna figured out what was _really_ going on. Little by little we saw through the lies, and she refused to sacrifice herself or any of her guardians to become the Final Aeon. Because it wasn't really helping save anyone, ya?"

On the ground below, Meko rubbed a sore shoulder, but listened to Wakka's story with rapt interest. "So, Sin finally died because Yuna refused to feed it?"

"Nah. All that did was take away the periods of calm in between Sin's tantrums. With no way to calm it, we had to find a way to really kill it this time. So, this bean-head here volunteered to be the one to fight it." He thumbed over his shoulder toward Tidus. "We couldn't let him do it alone, of course, but it was really hard to do. Sin wasn't just big and powerful, he was really -"

"Wakka -" Tidus delivered a kick to the big man's ankle, along with a tight-lipped frown.

"Oh. Right." Wakka realized he was treading into personal territory now and backed down.

Meko looked to both of them with confusion, wondering why the story had so abruptly ended.

"Uh, … without the Final Aeon, Yevon couldn't regenerate a new Sin once he was defeated. So, this time he went down for good," Wakka concluded.

With a disturbed expression, Meko looked to Tidus. "You killed High Summoner Yevon?"

Feeling ashamed of the circumstances surrounding the whole ordeal, Tidus climbed back down the scaffolding to where Meko stood. "Braska's Final Aeon was my dad." Brushing past him, he went for the tool box.

Meko's mouth fell open. He was stunned and appalled, but he followed the other blitzball player to put away the tools. "_Jecht?_ You killed Jecht, too?"

Tidus turned on the accusation with a frown and reminded himself that there was probably no way Mekoshiko could fully understand what happened. "Yevon killed my old man long before I could even lay a finger on him. My dad was the last guardian to be sacrificed to him, but Yevon overpowered him and possessed him to become the new Sin - just like all the others before him. I didn't kill Jecht. I set him free." Tidus dropped his hammer and picked up a towel to wipe his face. The sun was getting hot now. It was time to take a break before he burned and became dehydrated. The other three men were arriving just in time.

Meko sat down on a cut stump and stared at the unfinished hut. "Then, … this is where Jecht came after he disappeared."

"Yeah. Sorta." Tidus lowered his defensiveness. He couldn't blame the newcomer for being shocked and disgusted at what he was hearing. "Yevon wouldn't let him go. He couldn't stop himself. So, … he's the one who brought me from Zanarkand, … so I would end it for him." Pausing, he looked down at the towel in his hands and dried the sweat from his arms and neck before casting it aside. Then, he grabbed a bottle of water from an ice chest and hopped up onto the partial fence rail that marked the yard boundaries. He sucked down almost the entire bottle in just a few gulps, then turned his gaze toward the expectant arrival of the other three men.

Wakka set the last nail in place, and then climbed down the scaffolding to dry off and grab a water bottle as well. "He's right, ya?" he added to the overheard conversation. "I know it looks bad, but it's not what you think. He saved everyone that day." He tossed the towel back down. "Except himself." He gave Tidus a knowing expression, then moved to sit down in the shade of the hut's doorway.

Tidus knew Wakka was referring to the Dream and hinting for him to tell Meko about that as well, but he remained tight-lipped on the matter.

"Oh, man ..." Mekoshiko shook his head at the bizarre ending of the tale, and turned away, saddened, as if he needed time to absorb everything.

The scent of grilled fish and fruit breads on the breeze from the huts in the village reminded Tidus that he had not eaten breakfast before coming to work on his home. His stomach growled uncomfortably, but he kept himself focused on Meko, rather than thinking of food. "Anyway, … things are different for you. My old man didn't bring you here to help him end it. He's at peace now. But without knowing why you're here, there's nothing we can do to help you get back. Maybe Yuna will get some answers when she talks to Bahamut."

"Bahamut ..." Meko faced him again. "I suppose this aeon has all the answers?"

"No. But he's a good friend, and he's always been willing to help if he can."

Meko nodded and continued trying to swallow all of this new, disturbing information.

"Hey!"

Tidus looked up to see Brother leading Buddy and Cid down the path to his hut.

"Strange man who was with Yuna!" Brother pointed Meko out to his two companions, then stopped in front of Meko and leaned forward to peer beneath the sweaty blue hair that was plastered to the stranger's face. "Hmmm ... You are from Zanarkand like Tidus? You don't look like Tidus. I thought everyone from Zanarkand was Shuyin clone."

Tidus leaned forward from his perch and grabbed one of Brother's suspenders, giving it a sharp snap.

"Ouch! Why did you do that for?" he demanded, shaking his fist at him.

Tidus scowled at Brother, then gave Wakka an intolerant glance – an unspoken request.

"What ..." At first Wakka didn't seem to understand, but then the proverbial pan hit him. "OH! Hey! Meko, my man! How about you show me some of those blitzball moves now that we can take a break. I got a ball back at my hut across the way." He stood and took off his tool belt, dropping it on the tool box before gesturing for Meko to follow. "Hey, you can meet my wife and my kid while you're there. He's really cute, ya? Looks like me." He prodded his chest with a proud thumb and gave a wide grin.

Meko glanced to Tidus with lingering doubt, then shook his head and stood. Nodding in greeting to the other men who had just arrived, he willingly left with Wakka.

"Don't tell Meko that I came from a dream," Tidus spoke to the other three men who huddled near him at the fence. "It won't help anything right now. It might even make things worse, if he begins to doubt his own existence. We need to help him stay calm, all right?"

They all nodded in agreement, but Brother still frowned at Tidus and rubbed the sore spot from the sting of the snapped suspenders.

"Nice to meet you, Meko!" Cid called over his shoulder as the other two men walked away. He was trying to sound friendly instead of being his usual crass and grouchy self, but that only made him sound odd to those who knew him. "Now, where'd you stop on this thing?" He reached for Wakka's discarded tools.

"Oh, uh, this is from Darling." Buddy passed Tidus the breakfast bag of goodies.

"Awesome." Tidus opened the top and eagerly reached in for a sandwich made of the leftover bacon and eggs.

"I still don't see how a boy made of nothing but pyreflies can eat like a herd of shoopuffs on holiday," Cid muttered as he watched Tidus scarf down the meal.

Buddy picked up a tool belt from the box. "I guess we'll have a chance to chat with Meko later, since he probably has no other place to go. Brings back memories, eh?" He chuckled and nudged Tidus's elbow.

"You have no idea." Sandwich still in hand, Tidus pointed to their latest accomplishment. "Got the frames for the back rooms put together and one of them up."

"By the way, Shinra contacted the ship yesterday to report that he was going to add some of his research spheres to the library in Zanarkand," Buddy informed him with a grin as he strapped the tool belt around his waist. "I told him your hut was pretty close to being done, so he's volunteered to 'wire' it for you. Exactly what he means by that, however ..."

Tidus grinned. "Excellent. I'll be the only Besaid resident to have a wall full of gadgetry like an airship, even though Shinra's probably the only one who will know how to use it."

"Don't gloat with mouth full," Brother poignantly grumbled.

Though he already looked a bit like a chipmunk with stuffed cheeks, Tidus deliberately took another bite of his sandwich.

"All right, people! Let's build a house!" Cid clapped his hands and headed toward the next frame.


	4. Chapter 4: Past, Present, Future

Chapter 4: Past, Present, Future

As Tidus sat on the fence rail watching Buddy, Cid, and Brother take over the construction of the added room on his hut, he tried to envision what it would look like when it was complete, … as he had done at least a hundred times throughout the building process. When he lived in Zanarkand on his family's little houseboat, he couldn't have begun to imagine how his world would look in the future - or how far into the future that would be. It certainly wasn't what he expected. He understood the questions and feelings that must be running ramped through Mekoshiko's mind, but without knowing the true nature of the other young man's origins, Tidus felt as if his hands were tied on trying to speak to him about anything else. Discouraged, and fighting off a loudly growling stomach, he finally hopped off of the fence and removed his tool belt.

"I'm still hungry, so I'm going to get Meko and head back to the ship for some breakfast. Wakka and I will come back after lunch."

Cid shook his head in dismay at the bottomless pit and waved him to go ahead then returned to his work.

Tidus walked to Wakka's hut first. The curtain was pulled, and the storm door was open. But when no one answered his knock, he left for the village gates. As captain of the Besaid Aurochs, Tidus frequently found himself the center of attention among the islanders, so walking through the main dirt road of the small island's only village, he was greeted by the smiles and friendly waves of people coming outside to go about their morning chores. And as he passed a circle of children playing, the one being chased ran behind him for shelter.

"Safe!" The boy laughed loudly in the face of his friends as he clutched Tidus's shorts.

"What am I? Some kind of tree stump?"

"You can't hide behind him all day you know, Kusa!" one of the girls in the group shouted back in a taunting manner.

Tidus faced the kid and bent his hands on his knees to speak eye-level with him. "Sounds like you've got some serious girl problems, little dude."

"What?" the boy scrunched up his nose as the other children laughed loudly. "No way!"

"Then why are you running from her?"

"I'm not running from a girl," Kusa answered, slightly defensive. "We're playing a game."

"Then, what are you hiding behind me for? I'm not part of the game, ... unless you're supposed to be a blitzball or something. Am I supposed to punt you toward a goal somewhere?"

"No!"

Tidus looked toward the group of kids. "Where's the goal?"

They started shouting suggestions.

"The temple steps!"

"The bonfire circle!"

"Those two trees over there!"

Tidus stood and quirked a brow at the answers. "That's a lot of goals." Shaking his head, he hefted the boy onto his shoulder with a grunt. "Well, a blitzball is a lot lighter and easier to kick, but I'll see what I can do."

"Hey! I'm not a blitzball!" Kusa protested with a laugh.

"Are you sure? How about I aim for the beach. Think you can fly that far?"

The group laughed at their sports hero's antics with their unfortunate friend.

Kusa giggled and squirmed as he was carried toward the village gates. "Put me down!"

Tidus chuckled at the minor panic he had created. "Okay, If you say so." He spun the boy in a dizzying circle a few times first, and then set him down in the sand once more. Kusa wobbled slightly as he tried to walk away, which made everyone laugh again. "Say, you need to lay off of that nog this early in the morning," he teased, but then gave the boy's messy head a mild shove. "Tag! You're it!"

The kids all screamed at the change in the game and scattered to run from the boy they had been chasing.

Tidus ran away from Kusa like everyone else, but accidentally plowed into an old bearded, stooped man with a cane. "Oops! Sorry, grandpa!" He bowed a couple of brief times in apology as he dodged the kids that were being chased by the boy he had tagged. Then, he chuckled and waved goodbye to the kids as he jogged out of the village and up the sandy road toward the beach.

))((

The old man Tidus had collided with slowly straightened and pushed the brim of his hat out of his eyes to watch him go. Then, he turned his attention to the children chasing Kusa around the village bonfire area. He said nothing, but by his expression, one could have guessed he was annoyed by the whole lot of them.

))((

When Tidus reached the beach, he found Wakka and Mekoshiko kicking around a blitzball. Pausing to catch his breath, he watched them for a moment before approaching. Wakka was already sizing up Mekoshiko as a prospective player for next season. The stranger's skills seemed really good, though it killed Tidus to think of having to replace someone on the roster if Mekoshiko joined the team. The Aurochs had just won the championship for only the second time in what seemed ages, so it was unlikely that anyone would voluntarily give up their position now.

Finally, Tidus sighed and jogged the rest of the distance down the beach to where they were. He was just about to reach them, when his peripheral vision caught sight of something in motion coming toward him very quickly. Turning his head to see what it was, he found himself plowed into the sand and eagerly pinned down by a heavy baby dragon with sharp talons. "Arantisu!" He tried to push her off, but it was a futile effort. She weighed a ton. Giving up, Tidus let his head fall back in the sand and looked up at Wakka and Mekoshiko as they came to stand over him.

"Wow, we should hire her for defense next season, ya?" Wakka chuckled low. "She could sandbag quite a few of the other teams' best players with moves like that."

"Just get her off of me," Tidus complained.

"'Tisu! Come here! Shame on you for picking on someone half your size." Wakka backed up and called.

The dragon looked torn. Play with Wakka? Play with Tidus? Play with Wakka? Play with Tidus? Wakka had a ball. She slurped her forked tongue across Tidus's sand-speckled face, then leaped off of him to run toward Wakka.

Tidus grimaced in disgust at the slobber and sand on the side of his face and sat up.

"You're an easy sack, considering you're supposed to be the team captain," Mekoshiko offered as critical assessment while trying to hide a smirk.

"Well, against a _dragon_, yeah," Tidus grumped. Standing, he attempted to wipe his face with his sandy hands and bare arm. "Hey, I was watching your moves just now, and I'm going to guess you played right defense for the Duggles, didn't you?"

"Most of the time. I can shoot pretty well, but my strongest moves are my blocks. Someone as little as you, I could sack in a heartbeat."

"Well, we'll see about that." Tidus grinned at the challenge. "You're no dragon, and I'm a lot faster in the water, you know."

Mekoshiko snorted with amused doubt, as if further boasting.

"Listen, um, ..." Tidus dusted off his arms and tried to think of how to bridge the distance that he had put between them with news of what happened to Jecht. "I know the loss of my old man looks like a terrible thing, but you have to keep in mind that he was possessed by Yevon. He killed a lot of people before we could take him down. He wanted me to end it. And if Yuna had chosen a guardian to sacrifice and followed the same path as the summoners before her, ... nothing would have changed. A lot more people would have continued to die after them."

Mekoshiko sighed and was quiet for a moment as he stared at the sand. "It takes a dark heart to kill someone, and an even darker heart to kill someone you love."

"I know." Tidus admitted with honest shame. He knew the origin of his own soul, so there was no point in denying it. "But Yuna and my friends survived because of it. The people of this island and all of Spira survived because of it. So that made it worth while, ... don't you think?"

"You mean, does doing something wrong to make everything right excuse it? My gut instinct says no. It's still wrong." Meko seemed to be debating with himself for a long moment. "But you can't change the past, so I suppose I'll just have to see what kind of person you are now."

Tidus wasn't sure what to make of that answer, but he supposed it meant he was willing to give him a fair chance before making a snap judgment about him. He had been through this kind of thing enough times now that he could be patient and take it in stride, even if it was still a little frustrating.

Mekoshiko's stomach suddenly growled and he put a hand to his shirt with an embarrassed wince. "You wouldn't happen to have any food around here, would you?"

Tidus nodded with a mild smile, then looked over his shoulder. "Wakka, we're going in for breakfast!"

The large man tugged the blitzball away from the dragon and jogged back to them. "Mind if I eat with you? Lu wasn't at home, and I didn't eat before working on the hut." He examined his blitzball. "Look at the marks she put in this thing!"

Tidus looked down at his chest, which had been scratched when he was dragged out of bed this morning, but was scratched even more now. "Yuna's got healing potion for me, but I'm afraid the ball is out of luck." He led the way to the open hatch of the Celsius, but then stopped and faced Arantisu, knowing she was following them. "Stay." He held up a hand.

The dragon gave a guttural complaint.

"You're too freakin' big, all right?"

The dragon complained again, but this time reluctantly sat down in the sand.

Tidus sighed and patted her snout sympathetically before turning and heading into the engine room with the other guys. "Need a shower for sure now," he mumbled as he, Wakka, and Mekoshiko stepped into the lift and rode it up to the cabin's level. "I'm going to have to hurt Paine if she has me dragged out of bed like that again. I feel like I've already had two workouts today, and it's not even lunch time yet."

"Paine - she's the tall, silver-haired woman, right?" Meko asked.

"That's her. She's the one that spotted you on the beach." The doors of the lift opened and Tidus led the way into the hall toward the cabin.

"I'm having trouble remembering a lot of new names. The other girl was Rikku?"

"Yeah. Hey, I understand because I went through the same thing. I had to pick out little things to help me remember everyone better at first, like ... Wakka's hair." He snickered a little.

Wakka took the teasing in stride. "You had no problems remembering Yuna."

"Well, of course not. She's cute. I'm always partial to cute," he grinned. "And she has those two-colored eyes. And Kimahri's a big ronso, so he was easy to remember. And Lulu has big ..."

Wakka cast him a look of warning.

"Um, … eyes." Tidus changed his mind about what he originally considered Lulu's distinguishing features to be.

Wakka gave him a doubtful glance for the obvious lie, but entered the cabin as the door opened for them. He spotted his wife and son near the stage at the back of the long, wide-open room huddled in quiet but animated conversation with Paine, Rikku, and Yuna. "There you are. I wondered what happened to you."

"I found your note and came here," Lulu answered as he came toward them. "You look like you've already had a busy day."

"Got one of the back walls up. If we can finish the framework today, then we can begin roofing and plastering over it tomorrow." He stopped and turned to Tidus. "Unless you had other plans for tomorrow."

"Nah, I'm good. I'm going to hit the showers. Between the sweat, the sand, and the dragon drool, I feel kinda gross right now."

"You look and smell kinda gross, too," Yuna agreed with a smile as she met him with a kiss, but was careful not to touch him.

"Gee, thanks. That's my payback for calling you scary, right?" He returned the kiss and then jogged up the stairs to the loft to grab some fresh clothes. "I thought you'd be gone to Bevelle by now," he called back down to her.

"Well, I would have, but Baralai contacted the ship to tell us he was coming here. So, I'll wait and then go back with him."

"Who's Baralai?" Mekoshiko asked.

"He's the leader of New Yevon," Rikku informed him from where she sat on the floor with Vidina amid a bunch of makeshift toys she had brought to him.

"_New_ Yevon?" He looked to Wakka. "I thought you said Yevon was destroyed."

"Well, he was, and they were, but this isn't them," Rikku answered him instead.

Meko grimaced in confusion and scratched his head. "I'm afraid I don't ..."

"Yu Yevon was destroyed. The Church of Yevon was pretty much wiped out with him because so many of the maesters were actually unsent people. But some of the clergy reorganized and formed New Yevon. Baralai is the current praetor, and he's been in charge now for a few years. So, right now it looks like Yevon is going to be running the temples for a long time yet to come."

"Uhhh-huh." It made no sense to Meko, but he nodded anyway. "So much to learn about this place. So much has happened in a thousand years."

"Oh, Meko, this is my wife, Lulu, and my son, Vidina," Wakka introduced them. "Lu, this is Mekoshiko. ... From Zanarkand."

"Nice to meet you." Lulu nodded from her seated position on the edge of the stage, chin in hand, elbow on knee.

Meko bowed in greeting. "I'm sorry if I look like I just washed ashore and helped to build a house, but ... that's what really happened," he admitted with some embarrassment.

Lulu politely smiled, but inwardly she was intrigued by this mysterious second stranger from Zanarkand.

"Why is Baralai coming here?" Wakka asked as he stooped to kiss Lulu and lift Vidina from where he was cruising in circles by holding onto Rikku and Paine.

"I don't know, but he said he wanted to talk to Tidus, too, so it must be something related to the library." Yuna's eyes suddenly brightened. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?" She turned to Mekoshiko. "If you want to see what you've missed for the last thousand years, you should go to the library in Zanarkand! We don't have much information on Spira's history, but we've been collecting spheres found all over the place. I'm afraid we didn't even know that Spira was a space craft until a little more than a year ago. Maybe tomorrow we could take you there. Would you like that?"

"Yes, I'd like that very much," he gladly accepted the offer.

"No," Rikku interrupted with a soft whine. "I need to go visit Shinra tomorrow to ask him to fix my dress sphere, remember?"

"Oh, that's right. Well, the day after that, then. Meko, you're still welcome to come with us tomorrow if you have nothing better to do. We'll need to take a ship to Luca and then travel up the Miihen Highroad. Are you interested in seeing a little more of what Spira looks like these days?" Yuna asked him.

"Sure. Sounds like fun," he agreed.

Tidus sifted through his trunk of clothing until he found his own garment grid and then headed back down the stairs. "I might go ahead and take him to Kilika with me today - show him around there," he told the group. "I need to get some more supplies for the hut. Is there anything anyone needs me to pick up while I'm there?"

"Oh, ... shopping list ..." Lulu stood and crossed the room to a game table to get a piece of paper and a pen.

"Shopping ..." Wakka groaned. "Well, if I'm going shopping at Kilika, I might as well enjoy a little adventure while I'm at it, ya?" He looked at Tidus as he passed. "You going into the jungles to show him the temple and everything?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Okay. I'm game."

Lulu didn't look happy at the thought of her husband facing possible fiends in the jungle. Neither of them had been on that kind of adventure since Vidina was born because they knew they had to be able to care for him. She finished writing out the list, tore it off, and gave it to him. "Well, at least this is just Kilika, ... not the Omega Ruins. I suppose you can handle yourself safely enough there."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wakka snatched the note. "I didn't have problems in the Omega Ruins, woman. That was nothing but a playground. I had to tone it down a notch just so you could get a hand in the action, ya?"

Lulu blinked, unimpressed. "Don't forget bananas."

Wakka stubbornly pocketed the note and held Vidina in the air over his head until the baby was giggling and clapping with excitement. "Yaaahahahaha!" he laughed as he swooped him down into Tidus's face. "Slap him around, Vidina. Show him who's boss around here. Tell him you're going to kick his butt in blitzball someday. That's right."

The baby reached for Tidus's face, but then giggled and squealed.

"Nice try, but he's gotta learn how to walk first." Tidus tugged at the baby's small bare foot, making him giggle and kick even more. "Then he can play blitzball and come with us to catch a monkey in the jungle, right?"

The larger man grinned at the idea. "Hey, that's a good idea, ya? Vidina would love to have a pet monkey!"

"Absolutely not, Wakka." Lulu shook her head. "That boy is monkey enough by himself."

"Aw, come on. How can you say no to this face?" Wakka held the baby at arm's length toward her face.

Lulu turned a scowl on Tidus for even putting the idea in Wakka's head.

"I know, I know! I could summon my monkey for him!" Rikku volunteered. "Ghiki would love to play with Vidina!"

"Are you crazy?" Tidus answered for them. "How can you even think about introducing that Sin-spawn- pick-pocket-hairball to a helpless little baby?"

Rikku planted her fists on her ankles that were sprawled to either side of her knees where she sat on the floor. "Just because _you_ couldn't handle Ghiki doesn't mean Vidina can't."

Tidus gave Paine a disgusted glance for laughing behind her hand at that insult. Then, he looked to Wakka. "Don't let her summon that monkey for your kid. Vidina may not have enough hair yet to be pulled out, but you'll regret it - trust me." He entered the shower and closed the door.

Rikku turned to Yuna and whispered something in her ear.

"Oh! Good idea! Paine, do you have any empty memory spheres? I've used my last one for now," she asked the warrior woman.

"Hmm," Paine thoughtfully muttered to herself. "Just a minute. I'll check." She stood and ascended the loft to her dresser. After a few minutes of searching, she returned down the stairs and placed a memory sphere in Yuna's hand.

Yuna then transferred the clear glass globe filled with magical water into the small thief's hand. "I can't go to Kilika with them today, Rikku. Could you go for me and record anything interesting that you think I might like to buy for Tidus's hut for him? Please?"

All four women slowly smiled as if on the same telepathic wavelength.

"Sure thing," Rikku agreed with a wink and hurried up the stairs to get a change of ordinary clothing so she could shower next and leave the garment grid at home this time. She had already removed the daggers from her thief sphere and laid them on her bed to take them with her to Kilika, just in case. Then, she ran back down the stairs to join the others until the shower was open.

Wakka couldn't help but notice the suspicious behavior. "What was that all about?"

"When do you think the hut will be finished?" Yuna asked, ignoring his question.

"Well, ... within a couple of weeks, if we can work on it regularly now and no big storms interrupt before the outer structure is done. But if you're going to be going to Miihen and Zanarkand, then I guess the hut will have to wait a few more days. 'Course, I heard just this morning that whiz kid from your ship was going to be 'wiring' it, too - whatever that means."

Yuna blinked in surprise. "Shinra's going to do something to Tidus's hut?" She smiled and clasped her hands together at her chin, also wondering what it meant. "I'll have to ask him about that when we visit."

"We should ask Shinra to make you and Lulu some garment grids, too, Wakka," Rikku suggested as she came back down to join her friends.

"I wouldn't use it enough to make it worth my while, ... unless he's got one that's drool-proof." He hefted the baby in the air and continued to horse around with him making him giggle again.

"If he's got something like that, we'll take two," Lulu agreed.

Wakka tucked the baby under his arm as he gestured for Meko to follow him to the bar. "Darling, could we have two breakfast specials?"

"Yoo shertainly can." The blue, frog-like female blinked her strange, large eyes at the upside down little boy and caressed his head of soft red hair with a wide smile. "Awwwww, vewy cuuuuute. Vewy cuuuuute," she cooed before turning back to the kitchen.

Wakka sat down and set his kid on the floor, helping him to stand by encouraging him to hold onto the stools. Vidina squealed and jabbered in incomprehensible baby gibberish as he slapped the seat a few times and then took off on a wobbly path back toward Rikku, clinging to every bar stool along the way.

Lulu moved from her place on the stage to sit next to Wakka at the bar. "So, Meko, how did you manage to wash up on our beach?"

"I fell overboard from a boat."

"Tidus and I found him near the alcove just behind the dunes where I do my training," Paine informed her.

"He had been attacked by something that had tentacles, and it poisoned him," Yuna related.

"And you don't remember anything else?" Lulu questioned him.

"No. I'm afraid not," Meko answered.

"Where was the boat?"

"Off the shore of Zanarkand."

"Did you see anything unusual?" she continued to interrogate him.

Mekoshiko shook his head. "I didn't even see what attacked me. I must have started to drown before that."

"A blitz player? Drowning?" Lulu tilted her chin.

"I ... blacked out."

"Had you been drinking?"

Meko frowned slightly at the questioning. "No. I'm not sure why I blacked out. It's not like me to be so helpless in the water, I assure you."

"Did you know Tidus before? In Zanarkand?" Lulu continued probing for clues.

"Not personally. I recognize him as Jecht Junior - I mean, Jecht's son. But ... he told me what happened to Jecht," he added with uncertainty. "Jecht's been gone for ten years, but no one could have known he'd come here. I can't even imagine him being possessed by Yevon. The Yu Yevon I knew of was not the destructive monster that you guys call Sin. I have trouble believing he would do such a thing."

"You knew Yu Yevon?"

"Not personally," he answered again.

Darling delivered two plates of late breakfast to Wakka and Meko. "Will Tidush be wanting shome too?"

"Definitely." Wakka heartily began shoveling the food into his mouth as the hypello returned to the back of the kitchen.

Lulu rested her chin in her hand and watched Meko eat his breakfast. "Have you ever heard of the Farplane?"

"Of course, I have. It's the place where dead souls rest. The first guado on the ship summoned the Farplane into the ship as a life force of sorts."

Lulu was surprised at the frank detail of his answer. "How do you know all that?"

Meko shrugged. "I thought everyone knew it."

"Tidus once said it was taught in history lessons in Zanarkand," Yuna confirmed his answer.

"Do you think it's possible that you came here through the Farplane?" Lulu asked him.

Meko gave a chuckle and shook his head. "I've never been to the Farplane."

"But maybe the past is somehow connected to the present through the Farplane by magical streams."

"Or my uncle seems to think Spira may have machina that is malfunctioning that might cause a problem with the Farplane," Yuna added.

"I can check out the currents near where we found him," Paine volunteered. "Maybe there's something under the water that can give us a clue about what happened."

"Maybe." Meko nodded, but then continued eating.

Minutes later, when Wakka and Meko were almost done, Tidus exited the shower dressed in his Kilika thief sphere, squeaky clean and rubbing his damp head with a towel. "Ohhhh, ... food!" He sniffed the air and sat down next to Lulu. "Darling, can I please have a plate of that?"

"It's about time," Rikku commented, picking up the baby and giving him to his mother. "There better be some hot water left, you know." She punctuated her sentence by poking Tidus in the back.

"What's that? You say you'll hang up my towel for me?" He flipped the towel over her arm before she could walk away. "Thanks, Rikku."

Rikku snorted and dropped the towel back over his head before going up the stairs to get her clothing change.

Tidus pushed the towel from his head to his shoulders, but then Yuna moved to stand behind him and pulled the towel away. She dropped it in his lap to lightly finger comb his hair and help it dry faster. Then, she bent to sniff the shampoo. "Mmmh, much nicer. You smell like coconuts now. Kilika's monkeys will really look forward to seeing you today," she teased with a light smile.

"Fortunately, I have more hair than a coconut, so they shouldn't mistake me for one."

"I didn't realize it before, but your hair is almost as long as Mekoshiko's," she commented drawing the thin strands at the back of his neck down as long as the ends would reach.

"Maybe Tidus was cloned from another twin brother after all," Paine smirked.

Tidus tossed his towel into her face to remind her to be quiet about that, but Paine caught it and smiled to herself since Meko didn't seem to suspect a thing. He turned his head to see Yuna behind him. "It needs to be cut. It's annoying this long."

"Don't you dare." She frowned with a pout. "It's the only thing that makes you look older."

"You mean it has to turn gray before I can cut it?"

"You have a twin brother?" Meko asked, interrupting.

Tidus didn't want to talk about Shuyin. "He ... died some time ago. Hey, you should shower after Rikku. You can borrow something from my trunk to wear, if you like."

Wakka chuckled. "He can't wear your clothes. You're too short."

Tidus smirked mischievously. "Well, he can't wear _your_ clothes. You're too _tubby_."

That drew a chuckle from everyone else gathered at the bar, but Wakka coughed and pointed a fork at Tidus. "Listen, you little brat, I am _not_ tubby. This is one hundred percent muscle weight. And if you don't believe it, you can build your little hut all by yourself from now on."

The doors to the cabin opened and the baby dragon trotted in drawing everyone's attention. Stopping at the bar, she sat down beside Tidus's stool and rested her chin level with the counter-top to stare at him just as Darling delivered his plate.

"How did she get in here?" Tidus asked, suddenly feeling the urge to guard his food.

"I'm not sure." Yuna moved to the door to look down the hallway and then smiled at the young man with short white hair and light brown skin that was walking toward her. "Oh, that's how."

"She insisted on trying to squeeze in with me, so I let her go ahead of me," Baralai answered. "Good morning, Lady Yuna." He smiled a tired smile and greeted her with a Yevonite bow. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything by paying a visit this early. I used a teleport device to get here as quickly as I could."

"Not at all. We've been up since quite early this morning." She returned the formal bow and led him toward the bar where the others sat. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"No, thank you. I've already eaten. Oh, good. Tidus is here." Baralai bowed and greeted him, and everyone else, in a similar manner.

Tidus nodded, but then eagerly dug into his eggs and toast. "I hope you don't mind if I eat while we talk. I've been working on my hut since daybreak."

"Quite all right," Baralai assured him. His Yevon green coat and white linen pants were neatly pressed as always, but he looked as if he had not slept well.

Tidus started to take another mouthful when he noticed that the dragon was watching every movement of the fork. "Stop breathing on my food," he warned and pushed her snout away. But instead, the dragon licked her lips and sniffed toward his food so that her snout was only inches away from it. Tidus sighed heavily and passed her the entire plate. "Darling, ..." He set his cheek in a propped hand. "Need another serving over here," he requested. The dragon began licking the scraps of food off of the plate as easily as if she were sitting in a chair like everyone else.

"Is something wrong with the library?" Yuna prompted Baralai.

"No. The library is fine so far. More spheres have come in since the grand opening, and everything seems to be working perfectly. It's another matter that I came to speak with you about." The young praetor's face showed grave concern. "Meimo has escaped from the Bevelle prison."


	5. Chapter 5: Return of the Summoner

Chapter 5: Return of the Summoner

"When did this happen?" Yuna asked, alarmed.

At the bar, Tidus turned in his seat to face the praetor while the dragon snarfed down the food on the surrendered plate. "How did he escape?"

Baralai sighed wishing he had better news. "We're not sure how Meimo got out of his cell, but we suspect he had help, or else he would have escaped long before now. He's been gone since yesterday, and there's no trace of him anywhere. I wanted to warn both of you to be very careful. He's the kind of person that would like nothing more than revenge. And with his teleportation skills, ... he could be anywhere." His eyes shifted to the dragon, which was oblivious to their concerns and licking Tidus's plate with loud lapping sounds, though not a single crumb was left behind. "The maps are still safe, I assume?"

Yuna and Tidus both followed his gaze toward the baby dragon. "Yes," Yuna answered, deeply troubled at this news.

"Who's Meimo?" Mekoshiko asked.

Baralai lifted his dark brown eyes to the blue-haired stranger, surprised to see an unexpected new face among the tight-knit friends.

"Oh, I'm Mekoshiko." He remembered his instructions on the blitzball "prayer-greeting" and stood to copy what he had seen the others do for this obviously important visitor.

"We found him on the beach in a bad condition," Tidus hesitantly explained. "He's ... from Zanarkand."

Even more surprised to hear that, Baralai politely returned Meko's greeting. "Praetor Baralai from the Temple of New Yevon." Though they got along well now, Baralai still clearly remembered how hard it had been to accept Tidus's true nature. "From Zanarkand … like you?"

"Not exactly like me. At least, ... we don't think so."

Yuna faced Mekoshiko to answer his question. "Meimo is a summoner. He and his friend Kyudou headed a secret organization of sphere hunters who wanted to find Spira's original exploration maps. They wanted to take over the ship's controls and go back to Earth."

Mekoshiko's made a face. "Why?"

Baralai noted the stranger didn't seem the least bit shocked to hear Spira was a colony ship. But he supposed if he was a spirit from the past, as Tidus was, that was common knowledge back then.

"They blamed the Founders from Earth for making Bevelle attack Zanarkand and starting the whole Spiral of Death," Yuna explained as she moved to Meko's side. "They wanted revenge. But since Earth isn't the only world on the exploration maps, we were afraid it wouldn't be the only target for stirring up trouble. The home worlds of the ronso, guado, and other species of Spira would have been vulnerable, too. Kyudou was killed in the attempt to stop them, but Meimo escaped our first confrontation and tried to use us to finish their plans. We stopped him again, though, and he's been in the Bevelle prison for about a year now."

"So, … it's possible he could come back for revenge on you now? Or to get the maps?"

She gave an unhappy sigh. "Maybe both."

"I was going to suggest that you and Tidus go into hiding," Baralai spoke again. "At least until we've found him."

"Hide? Why should _we_ hide? We're not the criminals," Tidus strongly disagreed.

"If you're someplace he can't teleport you'll be safer. Here in Besaid, you're sitting targets."

"Where would we hide?"

"There are a number of places Meimo has probably never been to. The old Youth League Headquarters, the Den of Woe (now that Shuyin's gone), a cave in the Thunder Plains ..."

Tidus shook his head. "It's not right. We've never had to hide."

"What if he teleports to Besaid and tries to kidnap Yuna again? You can't help her if he takes her to the Farplane again," the praetor reminded the blitzball player.

Tidus's expression changed as he considered what happened last time.

"Don't you worry about nothing like that," Wakka interrupted. "We got your back. One of us can always go to the Farplane for you. But ... I kinda wonder if maybe Baralai's right that _you_ shouldn't take chances, ya?"

"Wakka's right," Lulu agreed. "Meimo could take you there, too." She looked to Yuna. "Didn't you say that was how he threatened you to break Arantisu's seal - saying he would send Tidus to the Farplane?"

"_That's_ how he made you do it?" Tidus was apparently unaware of that until now. "You risked all of Spira just to keep me out of the Farplane? Yuna ..."

"I thought that agreeing to help him would buy time, so that I could escape and we could hunt him down later. Live to fight another day, you know?" Yuna defended her reasoning. "But also I just ... I couldn't let it happen again."

Baralai remembered that Tidus had been sent once by Yuna's own magic and was threatened once by Shuyin's magic. And everyone had been tricked into thinking he had been sent again by Meimo, when he abducted Tidus to the Echo Alliance's Zanarkand hideout. A fourth risk was too much for her to consider - then, and now.

Tidus waved it off. "That wasn't a real sending. It was just an illusion to -"

"Meimo may rely on a lot of tricks, but he _is_ a summoner!" Yuna sternly reminded him. "His tricks alone were enough to take you out of a large crowd right before our eyes once already. He could do it again, if he wanted to." She was becoming upset that he was acting so indifferent about it now.

Baralai's attention was drawn once more to Meko as he followed the back-and-forth arguments with silent interest. Then, he realized he had made a big mistake. "Tidus, Yuna, ... May I speak with you privately?" He backed up toward the door of the cabin and waited. Tidus stood and escorted Yuna toward Baralai. When they joined him, the praetor led them toward the lift.

))((

Rikku threw open the bathroom door and struck a pose to dramatically show off her new attire. "Ti-daa!" She wore a red T-shirt fitted with lots of little white bows, a white mini-skirt, and sandals; and her strawberry-blond hair had been styled into two long ponytails with bows on either side of her head. "I bought it the last time we were in Luca, but I never wore it because I kept forgetting to put it in the garment grid. I was going to switch it for my old singer sphere's magic. What do you think?" She grinned.

Everyone was silent, until Lulu tilted her chin and tried to find suitable words. "It's ... you."

"That's a lot of bows," Paine added, trying to think of something neutral to say.

"You look like a five-year-old," Wakka bluntly answered.

Rikku's grin dropped to a frown. "What?"

"Don't get angry. You asked our opinions," he complained in response to her defensive reaction.

"It's a nice outfit, Rikku," Meko complimented her.

Rikku's irritation with the others receded into a slight blush. "You really think so?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, I really think so."

"Eh, you just like it 'cos that skirt's kinda short, ya?" Wakka retorted with a knowing wink.

Meko chuckled again with an innocent shrug. "She didn't ask _why_ I like it."

The Al-Bhed stuck her tongue out at both of them. "What do you people know about style, anyway?" As she headed for the stairs to the loft, Arantisu decided to go with her. The dragon licked its lips one last time and bounded toward the stairs, nearly knocking the small thief back down. "Ack!" Rikku hung onto the rail and winced at her close catch. "Tidus! Your dragon's getting on my bed! And I just changed the sheets!" She turned an irritated gaze back down toward the bar, but then her brows lifted in puzzlement "Tidus? Where did Tidus go? And where's Yunie? They didn't go to Kilika without us, did they?" She asked of Wakka.

"They're talking to Baralai," he answered.

Rikku straightened, serious once more. "Baralai's here already? That means he used a teleport, ... which means it must be urgent."

"Meimo escaped the Bevelle dungeons," Paine updated her.

"Meimo?" Rikku couldn't recall the name at first, but then gasped loudly when the memory came back to her. "Oh no! That's no good! That means he might come back here and take Yunie or Tidus away again!" she worried.

Mekoshiko leaned toward Lulu. "Excuse me, I didn't want to say anything while he was here, but ... did I hear right? This summoner guy threatened to _send_ Tidus to the Farplane?"

"The Farplane is dangerous to Tidus," Lulu answered. "He's not really a living person. He's more like a living spirit. He came from a dream summoned by Yu Yevon's magic - a dream that was an exact replica of the real Zanarkand, but constructed from memories of the dead."

Everyone else in the room gasped aloud at the fact that she had given away Tidus's secret.

"Lu!" Wakka scolded. "He didn't want anything said about that!"

Lulu drew back and looked at the appalled expressions of each of her friends. "Well, nobody told me."

Meko's eye's narrowed slightly in suspicion and distaste. "You mean, ... he's … unsent?"

Lulu leaned an elbow on the counter, pressing her fingertips into her forehead as she shook her head in disbelief. Now that she had said it, she couldn't take it back. Sighing at her mistake, she tried to explain. "Tidus isn't dead because he was never truly alive. He didn't come from the real Zanarkand. As real as he seems to be, his body is made of magic. He's an illusion. But his soul came from a real soul."

"But he's not a fiend," Rikku quickly added before Meko could jump to another wrong conclusion. "He's just like a real person, he's just ... not put together the same way we are. He's a bit like an aeon, which is kinda cool, don't you think? He was summoned into existence by magic, but while he's here, he's as real as he can be."

Meko set his elbows on the counter and swept his fingers through his hair, allowing himself a moment to absorb it. "This is even weirder than finding out Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago. Wait ..." He straightened and faced the rest of them. "That means you probably all think I'm an illusion, too. Is that it?"

Rikku's smile turned into a slight pout, and Paine shifted uncomfortably in her cautious silence. Wakka turned his attention briefly to his son.

"We don't know what to think." Lulu spoke honestly for all of them. "The dream no longer exists, but there's a chance you might be from a similar alternate reality, come to us through the streams of the Farplane."

Meko slowly shook his head in denial. "I'm not an illusion."

"Tidus didn't think he was an illusion either," Rikku softly sympathized. "He believed he was real right up until he had to kill Sin."

"I'm not an illusion!" In distress, the centuries-old young man suddenly stood and marched out of the cabin.

Worried about him, Rikku started to follow, but Paine caught her arm and held her back. "Let him go. We've just told him he might not really exist."

"Even Tidus needed time to cope with that," Lulu reminded her younger friend and lifted her son into her arms as he whimpered at her knees for some attention.

))((

Baralai, Tidus, and Yuna rode the lift to the deck of the airship. The praetor's boots stopped at the edge of the colorful, red paint job on the ship's exterior, and he gazed out over the pristine beach as the sun continued toward its apex in the sky. The ocean breeze swept his snow-white hair over the customary blue headband he always wore, but then he turned his troubled gaze toward the couple standing behind him. "I'm afraid I must insist that you keep an eye on this guest of yours at all times - even at night. If you can't do it, then I'll send someone who can."

"Meko?" Yuna asked. "Why?"

"His timing in showing up here bothers me. Meimo escaped yesterday, and suddenly this stranger shows up at the same location where you and Tidus are keeping the maps."

Yuna was astonished at what Baralai was suggesting. "You think he's Meimo in diguise?"

"His specialty is alteration magic. It's too suspicious. Questioning him won't do any good, though. Neither will cornering him in accusation. If that's Meimo, he will lie and teleport away as soon as he thinks we suspect him. But, since he could really be an innocent stranger, a blatant attempt to capture him wouldn't be wise, either."

Tidus walked to the front of the deck and stared toward the sand dunes where he and Paine found the other Zanarkand native. "Well, ... I guess he did kinda show up out of nowhere."

Yuna shook her head and crossed her arms after a slight chill from the ocean breeze. She was unable to accept it. "Meko seems like a nice person. Meimo never even pretended to be nice. Besides, Meko almost died from whatever attacked him. That couldn't have been faked. And he knew your nickname because he played for the Duggles."

"Meimo and Kyudou used the sunken blitzball arena in Zanarkand as their hideout. They collected Shuyin's spheres thinking I was him, so Meimo had access to that kind of information," Tidus pointed out. "But now that I think about it, there's something else that doesn't make sense. Meko didn't know anything about the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle or Sin, but he knew of Yu Yevon when he was High Summoner – back when he was a person. When I came here, I had no clue who or what Yevon was. I didn't even know what a summoner was because I didn't know what fiends were. Fiends and summoners didn't exist in Dream Zanarkand - at least not until Auron and Sin dropped them on me to get me out of there. I don't think he's Meimo, but now I _know_ he's not from the same dream."

Yuna was thoughtful about that questionable contradiction. "It sounds like he could have really come from the past, then. No, that doesn't make sense because then he'd have to be ... dead. But if he was from the real Zanarkand and dead for that long, he'd be an incredibly powerful fiend by now. But … Auron and Maechen stayed around for that long and they didn't turn into fiends. If they didn't turn into fiends, wouldn't that make them … some kind of Fayth?" Yuna looked up, confused.

"The Fayth willingly gave their lives to protect Zanarkand during the war." Baralai inserted over her theory. "If he didn't know about the war, it's not likely he volunteered to be a guardian."

"Unless he became a Fayth before the war and somehow didn't know about it. Maybe he's been sleeping in a forgotten tomb somewhere all this time."

"If he is a Fayth, then someone had to summon him. And that someone could be Meimo."

Tidus looked over his shoulder at them. "He can't be a Fayth. Fayth don't look human when they materialize."

"Shiva did," Yuna corrected him.

Tidus sighed and grew silent for a moment as he grasped at possibilities. "But you sent all the Fayth to the Farplane once Yevon's spell over them was broken. Fayth can't come out of Farplane once they enter it for eternal rest. He can't be a Fayth," he insisted.

"Unless he's been summoned out of the Farplane to walk among us," Baralai repeated.

"But not all spirits have to be summoned, and not all unsent turn into fiends," Tidus argued. "Auron stayed because he had unfinished business."

"So did Shuyin." Baralai frowned.

Yuna became aware of the frustration over Tidus's unnatural nature building between the two again. "Okay, if he's not human, not a dream, not unsent, and not a Fayth, ... then what else could he be?"

"I still say he could be Meimo in disguise," the praetor insisted. "Maybe something really did attack him off the shore, so that his near-death experience wasn't a fake. But as Meimo, he would know about Zanarkand's real past, but still be able to pretend ignorance to certain parts of it to _look_ like he has something in common with Tidus. If he wins his way into your circle in a friendly manner, he can make a move toward what he really wants – those maps."

Indifference was gone now. Tidus was as concerned as Yuna about these puzzling considerations. "Maybe, Baralai's right. Maybe we should hide this time."

Baralai shook his head, having changed his mind on strategy. "Too late for that now, I'm afraid. He was in there when I suggested it, so he knows your initial hiding places now and could find you by process of elimination. And if you pick a place you didn't already mention, he may harm someone else to find your location. For now just keep him under surveillance and act like nothing's wrong, but look for any clues that might identify him. And don't leave him alone with Arantisu. She carries Spira's travel log in her gold pendant. It's the key to the bridge of the entire ship," he reminded them.

Yuna's concern escalated. "But if he truly is Meimo, he could teleport Tidus into the Farplane, and no one would be able to stop him."

"A good reason for Tidus to never be alone with him, either," Baralai softly agreed and looked to the blitzball player.

Tidus reluctantly nodded in acceptance of that advice. "Yuna, ..." The blitzball player approached his girlfriend and folded her shoulders to his chest to give her a warm hug. "I appreciate your concern, but ... those maps are more important than I am. Dismiss Arantisu. Then, we'll figure out what to do about Meko."

Yuna's hand, folded at her chest while in Tidus's embrace, was able to grasp the small Zanarkand Abes charm on her necklace that Baralai gave her. He had them custom made for her and Tidus, and most people thought it was a symbol of their relationship. But the pendants were really wards designed to safeguard the magic placed on Arantisu's pendant. They were the only ones that Spira's ghost trusted with her ship's key, ... and her lost baby. As Yuna lamented having to banish the aeon and feared for Tidus being sent to the Farplane again, she spotted movement on the beach below. Meko was walking alone along the coast. "Should we confront him while no one else is around?"

Baralai followed her line of sight and watched as Meko climbed a dune and sat down to stare at the sea. "Any direct confrontation right now would end in his favor, since we don't know who we're dealing with. Find out more about him first. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but ... better safe than sorry."

Yuna understood his reasoning and nodded.

"Wakka and I are taking him to Kilika with us later," Tidus reminded her, still holding her in his arms. "I can talk to him then, while you talk to Bahamut.

Yuna faced him with worry and nestled into his neck, but then reluctantly nodded and released him before any possibility of tears could smudge her mascara. Then, she turned back to Baralai. "Would you mind if I went back to Bevelle with you? I was going to ask Bahamut if he knew of anything strange happening. And Uncle Cid suggested that I also speak with Gippal about a machina malfunction possibly doing something to the Farplane."

Baralai nodded in agreement and followed Yuna toward the left. "Both good ideas." Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that Tidus hung back for a second, still staring at the beach where Meko sat brooding. Then, he sighed and followed, and they all took the lift back down to the airship's cabin.

))((

"Arantisu?"

The little white dragon on Rikku's bed lifted her head and turned her ears toward the sound of her name, before eagerly hopping off of the bed and trotting back down the stairs. She hurried to Yuna and sat down in front of her to happily await her command.

Yuna stared into the aeon's big blue eyes for a moment then gave a sad sigh. "Arantisu, it's not safe for you here right now. You have to go home."

The little dragon's happy expression immediately drooped.

"I'm sorry, but ... it's for your own good. You're not safe with Meimo on the prowl again. If you were just a little bigger ..." Yuna crouched and stroked the dragon's serpentine neck.

The dragon snarled, hacked, and spat at the name, expressing her anger at Meimo's petrification trick the first time Yuna summoned her. First she was too big; now she was too small. It was frustrating. But, though she was sad to have to leave her friends, she knew she had to protect what her mother and father had given her to guard. The aeon bowed respectfully and then voluntarily dismissed herself to her ethereal tomb.

))((

Yuna turned to face Baralai. "Should we tell everyone else what you suspect, … while he's outside?"

"I'll explain it. You go on to Bevelle," Tidus offered.

Yuna nodded and started to walk away, but then stopped and returned to give him a quick hug and kiss. "Be careful."

He snorted, getting cocky. "Yuna, it's _Kilika_. What's the worst that could happen? Squatter monkeys getting loose and terrorizing the village?"

Yuna shook her head at his pride. "You're hopeless."

Tidus grinned in response as she smiled and left with Baralai.

"Let me get my daggers, and we'll be all ready to go to Kilika!" Rikku ran back upstairs to get her blades, like she intended to do before the dragon nearly knocked her down. "Ugh!" everyone downstairs heard her exclaim. "Now I've got stinky dragon smell on my bed and have to change the sheets a second time!"

"Hey, um, ... " Tidus perched on the stool next to Wakka as Darling brought him his second order of breakfast that had been warming, waiting for his return. "Baralai seems to think that Meko might be Meimo in disguise since he can create illusions and stuff. He said to keep an eye on him and find some way to prove his identity. Any ideas?"

"Meko is Meimo?" Lulu drew back and hoisted her increasingly cranky and squirmy baby to her shoulder to pat and rub his back while he stood on her lap and sucked his thumb to comfort himself.

"Maybe." Tidus hungrily began to eat - this time without the dragon's interference.

"Well ..." Lulu was thoughtful. "We could try to dispel any illusions he might be wearing."

Tidus shook his head. "He'd take that as a challenge, and Baralai said he might disappear again if he thinks we're onto him. If only there was some way to stop him from teleporting ..."

"I could knock him senseless with my blitzball," Wakka offered.

Lulu, Tidus, and Paine all gave him the same deadpan expressions for that lame idea.

Then, Lulu faced Tidus with a _real_ suggestion. "If we can combine all the spells we know that weaken magic, we might be able to render him helpless to teleport."

"And _then_ I could knock him senseless with my blitzball," Wakka repeated.

All three friends repeated their silent answer.

"What?" He raised his hands in protest. "Admit it. He deserves to be knocked senseless."

Rikku came back down the stairs. "Okay! I'm ready when you guys are." She folded her arms and grinned, but after a second noticed no one else was smiling. "What's wrong? Are you worried about Meimo being out there somewhere? Maybe we shouldn't go to Kilika today."

"Mekoshiko came here shortly after Meimo escaped," Tidus briefly explained their newest suspicions. "He might be Meimo in disguise. But we can't let him know we suspect anything until we can keep him from getting away."

"But, ... Meko can't possibly be Meimo," she protested with stunned disbelief.

"We gotta keep both eyes sharp on him today in Kilika, ya? We can't let him out of our sight," Wakka told her.

"He's out of your sight now," Paine flatly stated as she munched on some crumbs from her plate.

Tidus stopped chewing as he and Wakka realized she was right. Dropping his fork, Tidus scrambled around Wakka as both of them ran out the cabin to find their new recruit.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Rikku stomped a foot. "Nobody ever waits for me!" She took long, angry strides after them.

))((

Lulu gave Paine a secretive smirk. "Well, Vidina needs his morning nap now." The black mage stood with her baby. "I'll check over some dispel spells, but let me know if there's anything else I can do."

Paine nodded and followed her to the door. "I'll walk you out. There's something I need to do as soon as they're gone."

Both women took the lift down to the ship's engine room and walked down the open ramp leading to the sandy beach. Paine gave the sleepy baby's soft red head a light brush, and then Lulu waved and headed across the beach toward the path leading back to the village. Paine stayed in the door and watched while Tidus and Wakka talked to Meko in the distance. When they had convinced him it was time to go, the three men then headed toward the docks. Rikku, trailing behind them, spotted Paine and gave her a big "thumbs-up". Paine returned the gesture. Then, as soon as all four of her friends were out of sight, she jogged toward the dunes.

Slipping off her shoes and casting them aside for a moment, the tall woman waded into the clear water and readied the daggers of her currently worn thief sphere. Relying on her amateur, but excellent, blitzball skills, she drew a deep breath and dove under the waves.

For a second, the only thing visible was her own silver bangs swirling into her eyes. But then she was able to scanned beneath the water for predators. Whatever had attacked Mekoshiko had large tentacles, but she didn't see any threat of that kind nearby at the moment.

Swimming close to the bottom, she searched for anything that might indicate where Mekoshiko came from. She didn't see any sunken ships, but Besaid's beach floor was littered with old ruins, particularly toward the alcoves and cliffs on the eastern side of the island. Logic dictated she should swim toward that area first.

After only a few minutes, she found what she was looking for - a wide streak of shimmering pyreflies floated around some collapsed ruins forming a stream of raw magic that stretched beyond sight into the open sea. She also found something she wasn't looking for, though. As she turned back toward the beach, she met the jelly-like head of a giant squid.

In an explosion of bubbles, Paine darted toward the shore. The squid pursued. Long, rope-like tentacles slithered around her ankles to jerk her back. The sea creature was three times as long as she was, so she quickly became entangled. Its free tentacles snapped at her like whips while the ones that ensnared her constricted tighter with each movement she made. Fresh lacerations burned from exposure to salt water, or possibly venom. She struggled to free her hands and make use of her daggers, but her wrists were also quickly entangled. Worse than that, she knew she had been underwater long enough now that her lungs would not be able to withstand the pressure much longer.

Then, in a sudden moment of inspiration, she envisioned the moves that Tidus had been trying to teach her in order to do his father's infamous Jecht Shot. Paine stopped fighting the squid's hold and kicked forward and up toward the sunlight, pulling it along for the ride. As soon as she broke the surface and gasped for air, she twisted the momentum into an above the surface flip that pulled the squid out of the water with her. Being airborne for only a few seconds was enough to stun the water-breathing denizen. It's grip relaxed a little - enough for Paine to slam a heel into its beak. When they both hit the water again, she stabbed one dagger in a backward motion into the tentacle holding her opposite wrist. Drawing the dagger up sharply at an angle through the rubbery flesh, she sliced the tentacle off. She then used her free hand to cut the other loose. After that, she found herself fighting off tentacles flailing to grab her again while attempting to stab the creature's vital areas.

Soon, the creature was weakened enough that it began to sink. Paine drew her feet in and sliced off the remaining tentacle that held her. Then, she swam freely to the surface and gasped for air again. Her lungs burned for lack of oxygen for a moment, but then her vision blurred. "Oh no ..." She coughed and swam for the shore. Stumbling onto the sand, she ignored the awful sensation of becoming human sandpaper, grasped her shoes, and ran toward the Celsius.

Taking the lift to the cabin, she had to will her numbing legs to keep pumping. The floor met her before the door did, so she had to crawl the rest of the way to the bathroom and pulled herself upright at the sink to reach the medicine chest. Throwing open the cabinet door, she groped through the various kinds of healing potions. Pulling the cork with her teeth, she gulped one bottle of the fluid down as quickly as she could, hoping it would calm the painfully irregular heartbeat she was now experiencing. Grabbing a couple more bottles of the same potion, she allowed herself to collapse on the floor. Her face began to feel cold, but she managed to drink another whole bottle. She was about to drink down the third one and switch to her white mage sphere when she finally felt her strength returning with a warm rush of magic. Overwhelmed with relief, Paine let her forehead and cheek rest of the floor. As he heartbeat returned to normal, she reflected on the fact that her white mage sphere had only basic healing abilities and probably wasn't equipped for handling poison.

Soaked from head to toe, her wounds still stinging from the venomous taint, Paine slumped against the side of the tub and waited with exhaustion while the potion continued to convert the toxin flowing in her veins into a harmless substance. She knew how close to death she had come this time. "Well, ... at least now we know what attacked Meko," he told herself as she caught her breath. Then, she angered. "What the hell is something like that doing off the coast of Besaid?" Creatures that big normally lurked near the ruins in the open seas. It didn't make sense for it to come this close to the shore.

Slipping her daggers back into their sheaths, but leaving her shoes off, Paine dragged herself out of the airship and jogged back down to the beach. In spite of her condition, she had to tell Lulu what she found, and warn the rest of the village before someone else fell prey to it.


	6. Chapter 6: Malfunctioning Magic

Chapter 6: Malfunctioning Magic

"Yo! Lady Yuna!" Gippal called to her above the clinking, clanking, and hissing of the machinery that surrounded him in the walls and ceiling. He was surprised to see the high summoner walking toward his ops-area with the praetor of New Yevon in tow.

Yuna's voice was not suited to yelling above noisy machinery, so she waited until she was closer to speak. Stopping before the laid-back leader of the Machine Faction, she smiled and interlaced her fingers before her. "How is the progress on Spira's repairs going?"

Gipppal removed his gloves and set down his tools. He was glad that his friends had come to pay him an unexpected visit because it gave him an excuse to take a break. "Going well, considering how long it took to get us this far. For the past year, we've been doing only basic repairs - replacing worn cogs, producing new copies of cracked parts and installing them, stripping the circuits and rewiring them ..."

Yuna tilted her chin with interest. "Rewiring?"

"Just replacing wires that had unstable connections." He shrugged it off as a minor task, though it was really quite a complicated process. "This city - well, ship - is more wired than I ever imagined. If I wasn't down here with my hands into it myself, I wouldn't have believed it. Considering the ancient technology the people had when they built this baby, it's amazing it's held together as well as it has." The Al-Bhed engineer grinned with pride and patted the pipe behind him. "See this here? This is part of the pipe that carries water from the seas and redistributes it to the processing section for purification so we can use it for drinking and stuff. But, we discovered that part of that water is also distributed out to some unusual places, ... like Lake Macalania and the spring in Macalania's woods. There's no magic in this water here, though, so it must be added to the flow somewhere further along the line. And see this rubber material that's been fitted on the end here? That's a shock resistant fitting - probably made that way to allow for launch, landing, and other jarring moves through space that might cause quake-like conditions on the engine level. The material was cracked and leaking, so it wouldn't have taken much to damage it to the point where the whole section of the ship under Bevelle could have flooded. If that had happened, our surface water would have disappeared with no one knowing why, and many of the operations down here would have been damaged. We saved her just in time." He patted the newly repaired, monstrous pipe.

"So that's why my water's been acting weird lately." Baralai commented.

"Yeah, unfortunately, sometimes you gotta shut things down in order to fix them, but we're trying to keep the impact minimal so it's not so noticeable. It's amazing to see exactly how this ship runs everything, though. It recycles the water, controls region-specific climates, regulates the atmosphere gases and gravity ... Spira may be a man-made construct, but they thought of everything necessary to duplicate a real planet when they created her. It's no wonder we never knew the difference."

Baralai frowned slightly as he watched a small robotic contraption walk past him, but then he sighed. "I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing so many machina under the temple. Knowing we're sitting on a tin can is one thing, but those things remind me too much of the machina soldiers dug up in the desert ruins."

"Well, ... that's what they are, basically - with some reprogramming and new parts," Gippal answered him with frankness. "Those little guys are a big help down here. They carry things between locations, weld, and work longer hours than the rest of us combined. Besides, I thought one of your trump cards in New Yevon being different from Old Yevon was more tolerance toward machines, since you know now they had nothing to do with Sin attacking us, ... right?" His tone became mildly accusing, but in a teasing manner.

"We all know now that forbidding military-style machina was Old Yevon's means of securing a power for itself, rather than for the redemption; but I still don't have much faith in machina, even for other purposes. What if they make a mistake? They can't think for themselves. They can only do what you program them to do."

"Don't cross me, man." Gippal held up a finger in mock warning to his former colleague. "Watch what you say or I can send a whole army of them topside to shut down your hot water as soon as you get in the shower."

Yuna giggled lightly as Baralai made a face at the mild threat, but then something Gippal had said struck her curiosity. "Wait, if this sea water goes to Macalania without the memory magic, then where does the memory magic come from?" She set a hand on the cold, over-sized structure.

"We're not sure, but we're pretty sure now that the Fayth at the Macalania Temple wasn't the only component that made Macalania magical."

"Shiva's ice magic made the crystals in the woods, though, didn't it?"

"Yes, and no. Her presence seems to have been what controlled the temperature of the Lake's waters and the surrounding climate to be as cold as Gagazet, even though its nowhere near as north or high altitude. That's why the crystals faded and the region melted and flooded when she left. The forest is a swampy mess now because of her absence - no doubt about it. But the ability to record memories really doesn't have anything to do with ice magic, if you think about it. It's more like time magic. So, there had to have been some other source of magic flowing into it that was disrupted when the Fayth was sent to the Farplane. If we can figure out where the magical flow came from and why it stopped when she left, then we may be able to save what's left of Macalania."

"Time magic ... " Yuna paused for a moment. Maybe this was the clue they were looking for to explain Meko's presence. "Gippal, do you think it's possible that the adjustments you're making here could affect the Farplane in any way?"

"No." He shook his head. "We only work with machina, not magic. Why? Is something wrong with the Farplane?" He noted the uneasy manner in which Yuna and Baralai exchanged glances.

"Well," Yuna hesitantly explained. "Early this morning, Paine and Tidus found a person on the beach who claims he's from Zanarkand."

"Zanarkand?" Gippal's green eyes widened in surprise, even the blinded one behind the black patch that he always wore. "Like Tidus?"

Yuna shook her head. "We don't think so. Sir Jecht brought Tidus to us, but now Sir Jecht is gone. The Dream is gone, and the Fayth are finally at rest. So, we're wondering how Meko could come from the past into the present without being like Tidus. We're wondering if maybe he could be from the _real_ past, or another alternate past, ... somehow. Cid suggested that maybe your work with the machina down here might have done something to the Farplane. You admit that you've been shutting some things down to make repairs, and if you think time magic somehow affected Macalania, ... maybe there's a connection."

Gippal folded his arms and thoughtfully rubbed his chin as he mentally reviewed the areas they had completed so far. "I don't think any machina down here could control the magic of the Farplane or time, though." He paused and scratched his short blond hair. "Then again, I guess there's no telling what some of these gadgets do. We know how to repair basic operations, but the bridge of the ship hasn't even been open to us. It's locked, and you guys have the key. And we've tried to steer clear of the areas we don't know anything about. If we've done anything to affect the Farplane, it's been accidental."

"Could you retrace? Just to check? Please?" Yuna bowed with her request.

He was uncertain about such a request. "Well, sure, but ... that's a big job. It'll be difficult to narrow down where a mistake like that could have happened. It'll take some time."

Yuna straightened and clasped her hands at her chin in gratitude. "Thank you, Gippal. I'm so sorry to inconvenience you."

"No problem, Lady Yuna. You know, though, if something's wrong with the Farplane, it might not be machina-related. And if the Farplane itself is in trouble, ... we don't know how to fix that," Gippal added with uncertainty.

"I know."

"There is ... one more thing," Baralai added as he summoned his double-ringed spear into his hand. "You should be aware that Meimo escaped from the dungeons yesterday. Did you happen to notice anything suspicious down here?"

Gippal was stunned at the news, but slowly shook his head. "No. You think he's hiding out down here among us?"

"I _wish_ he was that easy to figure out and apprehend again, but with his teleport abilities, he could be anywhere by now. We think he had help escaping, since he's been in prison for a solid year until now. If you notice anyone or anything unusual down here, please notify me."

"Sure thing," Gippal easily agreed. "I'll check with my workers and see if they saw anyone running around that shouldn't be here. Hey, I'll even send one of them up to take a look at the cage he was in. Maybe it defaulted, or something, and he was able to free himself that way."

Baralai nodded in agreement to his suggestion. "Meanwhile, be careful. Meimo has taken hostages in the past to get what he wants, and what he wants is in your territory now, even if you don't have the key."

"Right! The Gip-meister and the Machine Faction are officially on police duty to guard the ship's bridge, sir." The relaxed engineer gave a mild salute with two fingers. "Hey, you're not going to blame Nooj for it this time, are you?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't have blamed him last time if Meimo and Kyudou hadn't left clues pointing at him. But I will inform him of what's going on. He's in Kilika, and the temple there is where all of this business with the Echo Alliance started last time. Meimo could return there, so I need all the eyes and ears that I can get to look out for him. We're going into the Abyss next to see if Bahamut will speak to Lady Yuna. If he has any news about changes in the Farplane, we'll bring it back to you."

"Okay."

"Should I try to speak with Shiva, too? I could ask her about the spring water," Yuna offered. "I probably should have said something to her sooner over the past year, but it didn't even occur to me that there might be something other than her presence that could save Macalania from fading."

Gippal shrugged and leaned back against the enormous pipe full of seawater he had been boasting about fixing. "If it's not too much trouble. It might save us a lot of time trying to hunt for the answers ourselves."

))((

Rikku held out a memory sphere and slowly panned the displays in the Kilika shop showing the bamboo-style home furnishings to record as much detail as possible. Then, she gasped as she zeroed in on one of the sheet sets - bouncy blitzballs on a blue background. "Oh, Yunie! You have to get this one for Tidus! It's perfect! It's meant for a child's room, bu he's still only, what, four?" She giggled.

"I'm eighteen," he corrected her. "And I don't want blitzballs all over my sheets," he protested before returning to the reason he came into the shop looking for her in the first place. "Wakka, Meko, and I are going to the other pier now, and then we're heading on to the temple. Are you coming with us, or staying here?"

Rikku turned the memory sphere toward him. "Bahamut said last year that you were technically only three years old, so that means you're four this year," she insisted.

"Am _not,_" he distastefully disagreed.

"Are too."

"I'm eighteen," he firmly repeated.

"Shuyin would have been eighteen. Tidus is only four. No, wait. Shuyin would have been one thousand eighteen years old, wouldn't he?" she realized with awe. "You don't look like a one-thousand eighteen year old man. You should be, like, really super wrinkly. Maybe mummified." She laughed with a snort. "But I guess you don't look four, either."

"Because I'm eighteen!" Tidus's eyes switched focus from her to the memory sphere, which was recording this entire dispute. "Give me that."

"No, no, no. This is for Yunie. And these memory spheres are getting very expensive these days because the spring water from Macalania is almost gone. I won't let you waste it."

Tidus managed to snatch the globe from her hand anyway and stuck his tongue out briefly, as he hopped back out of her reach with a laugh. "Hah! Now, let's see if we can find something worthwhile to show her, ... like me." He turned the sphere toward himself and grinned into it.

"She knows what _you_ look like. It's what the shop has in stock that she needs to see." Rikku tried to snatch it back.

He put his hand against her forehead and straightened his arm to bar her from getting any closer, but then he turned the sphere toward her. "Woah, is Rikku miffed at me, or what?" He laughed at her annoyed expression. "Wonder if I can make her cheeks get as red as her hair."

"Tidus! Give it back!" Rikku angrily snatched for it again, but his arm was just long enough to keep it beyond her reach.

"What is this?" Wakka complained as he and Meko entered the shop after a visit to one of the fishmongers. He paused to carefully place his wrapped fish in his backpack. "I can't leave you two alone for a minute and you're already fighting over something."

"Isn't that going to, um, ... stink up the whole bag?" Meko asked with doubt from behind him.

"I know what I'm doing. I keep everything wrapped separate. It's just a matter of remembering to keep the zipper a little open, ya?"

"Did you get the bananas?" Tidus asked as he backed up to get everyone in the sphere.

"I won't forget the bananas." Wakka partially zipped up his bag. "Man, you sound just like Lu. Are we ready to move on?" He headed back out of the shop and Meko followed him.

Rikku straightened in frustration and put a hand on her pocket. "Don't make me summon the monkey to steal that sphere back from you," she threatened.

A brief panic crossed Tidus's features, but then he laughed. "You _can't_ summon the monkey; you have no garment grid!" He laughed again enjoying the fact that Gikki was now an impossibility.

A slow smile spread across Rikku's face. "Oh yeah." Her grin spread from ear to ear so that she seemed to completely forget her previous anger. "Thanks for reminding me." Giving up the battle, the young woman turned her back to him and followed Wakka and Meko out of the shop.

"Huh?" Tidus wasn't expecting that kind of response from her. No retort? No argument? Nothing? Almost disappointed, he shrugged and followed.

The three blitzball players and Al-Bhed thief left he shop and walked down the pier to cross over the bridge to the other side where some fruit vendors stood beside their wares. Wakka approached the melons and picked out a couple to purchase.

"No, no, no. That one's not ripe enough yet." Rikku plucked a melon from his hand and picked up another to sniff it. "See? They should smell like that and sound like this." She gave it a thump to let him hear the hollow tone it produced.

Disgruntled and bored with Rikku's strange surrender, Tidus turned to pan the breezy port scenery for the memory sphere. In the process of capturing the clear blue skies, swaying palm fronds, gentle waves, and exotic birds, he caught the atmosphere of the colorful people ambling about the boardwalk between the docked ships and the village huts. "Nooj's hideaway with Psycho Woman ...," he narrated for his documentary as he zoomed on the Youth League's new headquarters. Then, he came full circle to Rikku and Wakka at the fruit stand in the background. "Our tourist, Mekoshiko ... Say hello to Yuna, Meko."

Meko chuckled lightly and gave a small half-embarrassed wave. "Hi, Yuna."

"So, what do you think of Kilika Port so far?" Tidus asked as he continued recording.

"It's nice. I like it. If I'd known these islands were this nice, I probably would have made more of an effort to come here before now." The young man had to finger-comb his wind-swept bangs from his eyes once more, but he seemed suited to the coastal weather and smiled with genuine appreciation.

Tidus stepped backwards and hopped up on a crate to wait while Wakka and Rikku continued to pick over the fruit. He decided now was as good a time as any to attempt to talk to Mekoshiko and find out if he could be Meimo in disguise, especially since he had the memory sphere recording everything they said. "Have you ever been outside of Zanarkand before now?"

"No, actually, I haven't - well down the coast a-ways and up in the mountains near Gagazet a little, but I haven't visited other places on Spira. Guess I'm kind of a home-body, more interested in settling than adventuring."

Tidus began keeping a mental score sheet. Inside the Dream, he had not known other places existed. Meimo, however, would have current knowledge of all the places on Spira. That was one point possible for Meimo. "I guess there was always enough to do in Zanarkand, huh?"

"Oh, there was _always_ something to do in Zanarkand," Meko agreed with a chuckle. "The city that never sleeps, right? If there wasn't a blitzball game playing, I'd be surfing on the beach, or out at the amusement park, or dancing, or going to movies ..."

Tidus nodded in understanding, but that information could have been gleaned from watching Shuyin's spheres. Two points possible for Meimo. There had to be something more specific he could ask that only someone who actually lived in the ancient city would know. "What was your favorite hangout?"

"Ah, ... let's see. I liked several clubs down near the waterfront."

Tidus straightened with a grin. "I used to live in that area."

"Really? Where?"

"My old man owned a houseboat, and he kept it docked down by the port. It's _still_ there, even under water in the ruins," Tidus sarcastically joked.

"I remember seeing all those boats docked there. Houseboat, huh? That's unusual. Must have been a lot of fun."

"I guess, but I really wanted to live in one of those high-rises overlooking the bay and the arena, you know? At least it would have been a closer to walk to the stadium, instead of having to cross those long bridges or ride the public transportation."

"The Snake!" Meko laughed at Tidus's familiar frustration. "Oh, man, I hated that thing! Someone would always grab my butt."

"Or someone else would accuse you of doing the grabbing!" Tidus laughed with him and raised his free hand. "I had to stand like this all the way home from G-West district, just so my hands could be seen so no one would accuse me of anything."

Meko laughed, leaned on the fence rail next to him, and held up both hands in the air in imitation of the gesture. "And of course you also _had_ to ride it like this going down that big slope from the library to the concert hall in B-North."

"AAAAAHHHHH!" they both yelled in unison as if riding a roller-coaster.

Meko laughed aloud. "I think I nearly wet my pants the first time I rode that line. It's bad enough flying over the whole city on the upper levels in a transparent tube without rails or anything to hold onto, but when that train takes an almost hundred-eighty-degree nose-dive toward the ocean at the speed of light?"

Both Zanarkand natives laughed at that shared memory. "Hey, did you ever go to the Waterwall Cafe?" Tidus asked.

"All the time after games." Mekoshiko enthusiastically grinned. "They always offered the fried shrimp and pumpkin dish free if we won."

Tidus grinned. "I used to scarf down two plate-fulls every time we went."

"Me, too. Course, ... I would have loved to have been there for your most exciting night at the Waterwall. I saw the headlines the next morning, though." Meko held up his hands as if dramatically displaying a title. "'Jecht Junior Scores Best Sack of the Night on Drunken Fan!'" Meko chuckled. "Remember that? I know you got in trouble for it, but you have no idea how many other players cheered you for that. I can't even count how many times I wanted to haul off and deck some of those loud-mouthed ass-wipes who act like they have the right to tell you everything you did wrong in a game, though they've never even been in the pool. But _you_ - you were the first player to actually do it!" Mekoshiko laughed and gave Tidus a good-natured punch to the shoulder. "That was funny as hell to the rest of us, man."

"Yeah, I remember that," Tidus answered, though not as enthusiastically as before. He was vaguely aware of the incident with the drunken fan at the Waterwall. It was among the memories he shared with Shuyin. Meimo couldn't have known all that, so that was a point in Meko's favor. But Meko was remembering the wrong guy. Meko was remembering Shuyin. Tidus couldn't deny his own presence at the incident because that meant he would have to explain himself. "Can I ask you something? What, exactly, was the last thing you remembered seeing of Zanarkand?"

Meko's jovial mood quieted a little. "Water – cold, dark water. And a really big fiend with long tentacles." His mood dampened more with retelling the memory. "Guess it's a good thing I was a blitz player, or I probably wouldn't have been able to hold out long for an underwater fight." Meko paused and stared at his feet. "I guess I didn't hold out as long as I thought I had, though. I think the poison from whatever attacked me was kind of eating me from the inside out, you know? If you and Paine hadn't found me when you did ..." He lifted his chin to meet Tidus's gaze.

Tidus was puzzled. "But … what were you doing before you fell into the water? You said you were on a boat, but we didn't see any boat on the water."

Meko shook his head as if he couldn't think clearly. "I … think I ... went to see someone. There was an argument – a fight. I went overboard, and … the next thing I knew ... I was here." He paused and looked back up at Tidus with worry. "If you guys find a way to send me home, I'll be going back to a war in which Zanarkand is destroyed, … right? Is there any way to know ... Are there records or something that tell who survived it?"

Tidus wished he had something hopeful to tell in him response, but Meko was right. It was the same conclusion he had come to himself when he realized that there was no point in going home to a place that would be destroyed. Jecht probably had a similar realization just before he offered to be Lord Braska's Final Aeon. All Tidus could offer in response was a heartsick sigh as he lowered his head to his arms and tried to think through the meaning of the score sheet so far, when the memory sphere was easily snapped out of his hand.

"Well, Wakka's got his shopping done, so we're ready to go," Rikku announced upon her return, turning the sphere off before he could argue with her. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he muttered and stood, ready to head down the pier toward the mainland. "Let's show Meko the jungle and the temple before we head home."

Rikku looked to Meko, as if he could deliver an explanation for Tidus's sudden sour mood.

"Memory lane is full of ups and downs." Meko answered, stood, and followed the other blitz player toward the large bamboo fence at the end of the boardwalk.

Wakka and Rikku exchanged glances, but then Wakka paced ahead to catch up to Tidus. "So, ah, ... you remember some of the same things? That's so cool, ya? But I bet it's also kinda weird, seeing as how both of you are from a place that's nothing but ruins now. Hehe." He tried to perk up his little buddy's spirits by teasing him a bit.

Tidus's mouth quirked in the corner as if finding no humor in that statement, but tolerating it for the sake of his friend.

"Did you go to the same school or something?" Wakka persisted.

"No," they both answered, but then looked at each other without surprise.

"We lived in different sections of the city, and it was a very big city," Meko further explained.

"What section were you in?" Tidus asked as they walked down the dirt path into the jungle. Lush green growth formed lots of undergrowth along the path and a rich canopy overhead. Monkeys could be heard squeaking in the branches overhead.

"C-South, of course," Meko gave a wane smile.

"Oh, ... yeah." Tidus remembered now which district the Duggles played for. "But I feel like I should remember you, you know? I mean if we played against each other, I should remember someone with blue hair."

"What this?" Meko gave his own hair a light tug. "This part of me is guado."

"Guado?" Wakka's step almost faultered at the news. "You don't look guado."

Meko chuckled. "Well, that's why I said 'this part of me'. But maybe the reason you're having trouble remembering me is because you never actually played against me."

"Don't tell me you were benched all season," Tidus responded in disbelief. "I saw your moves on the beach with Wakka, and you're pretty good."

"Not good enough to face-off against Jecht Junior in the pool."

"Uh oh, ... guys?" Rikku grabbed Wakka's back-pack and pointed to the clearing ahead. Three large lizards crawled from the undergrowth of the jungle ahead of them to slink across their path and block it.

"Great. Dinonix." Tidus immediately identified them by their bright green scales and yellow stripes. They were small compared to some of Spira's other lizard species, but they were fast and agile and could deliver a nasty bite. He looked over his shoulder to his three companions. "Meko, do you have any weapons on you?"

"N-no. I wasn't expecting to -"

"That's okay. Just stay behind the rest of us. We can handle these guys - no problem." Confident in his ability to take on all three by himself if he had to, Tidus removed his garment plate and touched the sphere that would change him into his guardian mode. But instead of changing into his old yellow and black Abes uniform, Tidus found himself wearing Rikku's nightshirt and fuzzy slippers. And instead of his sword, he was holding a moogle. "What!"

He barely had time to be shocked when the moogle jumped from his arms and ran to Wakka to cast a spell that would duplicate the same effect on him. Of course, the nightshirt was much too tight on the larger man.

"What the ..." Wakka cast an expression of accusation at Tidus. "What'd you do to me?"

"Nothing!" Tidus vehemently denied any wrongdoing as the moogle returned and jumped back into his arms. "I just switched to my guardian grid and ... POOF!"

"Gimme that thing!" Wakka snatched it from him, gave it a shake, and touched a button to change it back.

The clothing went from bad to worse with both of them now dressed in Rikku's old thief bikini.

"Wakka! Change it back! Change it back NOW!" Tidus jerked the grid back to try another sphere. This time, everything went black. "Woah! Can't see anything!" He reached for the weight over his head and turned it just a little so that the two holes of light were aligned with his eyes. Peering through the heavy helmet-like thing he was wearing, he could see a large black and white cat standing where Wakka once stood, and it sounded strangely like Wakka as it started cursing. Tidus lifted the head of his Cait Sith costume and fumbled with the garment grid again before dropping the head back into place and trying to view the device through those peep-holes so he could make another selection.

Meanwhile, the lizards crept closer, hissing as they surrounded and closed in on their prey.

Tidus was frantic to correct the malfunctioning magic when he heard hysterical laughter and looked to his right. Rikku was recording the whole thing with the memory sphere.

When the thief calmed enough to do a wink and thumb's-up gesture into the memory sphere, she gestured in excitement for everyone to retreat. "Run! Run back to town! Come on! We have to get out of here!"

Tidus had just managed to change himself and Wakka back into Rikku's nightshirt and slippers. "Are you crazy! I'm not running back into town like this!"

"You can't fight them like that, Tidus! You have no weapons!"

Frustrated, Tidus looked down at the one weapon in his arms and copied what he had seen Lulu do many times before. He gave the moogle a toss and watched helplessly as it ran forward to cast some kind of magic. Now, one of the lizards was wearing a copy of Rikku's nightshirt, too. "What kind of pathetic attack was that? That's not gonna help!" he fussed as the moogle hopped safely back into his arms. Tidus scowled angrily at Rikku, but that only made her double with laughter again.

Wakka quickly dropped his backpack to pull out his spiked, magical blitzball. _Thunk!_ One lizard went down and dissolved into pyreflies.

Tidus stuffed the moogle into the thief's arms before snatching her daggers from their sheaths in exchange. "We'll talk later," he growled unhappily before running back toward the fashion-impaired lizard. Daggers weren't his best weapons, but his speed and agility were enough to handle the dinonix. Within a minute or two, he was able to dodge and slip the blades between the creature's ribs, dispensing of the second fiend.

Wakka's ball slammed into the third lizard, but this time drew blood. The dinonix dropped to the dusty ground, motionless. Wakka walked to its side and picked up the ball. "One out of three. I sometimes wonder if the fiends are eating all the real ones, ya?" Tucking the ball back into his pack, he zipped the bag tight.

Tidus marched back to Rikku and crouched eye level in her face. "What did you do to my spheres!" he demanded.

"Me? I didn't do anything," she answered, still laughing and wiping tears from her eyes.

Wakka joined Tidus and grabbed the moogle. "This is Lu's! Why'd you put her up to this? You put our lives in danger!"

"Geeze, Wakka, it's only Kilika," Rikku answered with a sly glance as she straightened and tried to stop laughing. "It's not like we were going to the Omega Ruins. You said this place was a playground, remember?"

"That doesn't mean we can come out here and take on the whole jungle with nothin' but a moogle, ya!" Wakka yelled back, shaking the plush toy at her.

The waggling moogle was too much for her. Rikku snickered, then cracked up again.

Meko put a hand to his lips, averted his gaze to the grass underfoot, and tried to keep from snickering, as well.

"How do I get my clothes back, Rikku!" Tidus demanded.

"I don't know," she admitted as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"What! How did you even manage to swap my grid for yours?"

"Well, Yunie knew where you kept your garment grid in your clothing trunk, so while you were working on the hut, she switched them."

Tidus couldn't believe it. "_Yuna _did this?"

"Then, Lulu added the moogle with the duplicating spell. I'm sure your Kilika shorts are in there somewhere, but good luck finding them!" The small thief grinned in a cheerful manner and backed up to get a nice full view of Tidus and Wakka in their matching nightshirts and pink, fuzzy slippers for the memory sphere. "Well, shall we go on to the temple? Or go back home?"

"We're going home!" Wakka ordered as he shoved the moogle into Rikku's arms, then turned around and headed toward the docks. Tidus snorted at her as if to second the big man's tone and made strong strides to keep up with him.

))((

Rikku recorded the pair storming away before turning off the memory sphere. "Well, Mekoshikoshi, looks like the other guys have had enough adventure for one day. Maybe we can show you the temple in Besaid, instead. They all kinda look alike on the inside anyway, except for the Cloister of Trials. Did you enjoy your tour of Kilika?"

"_That _was priceless." He commended her as he wiped tears from his eyes and continued to chuckle.

Rikku laughed, pleased that their trick had entertained him. "Hey, let's go watch everyone in the village laugh at them as they walk back to the airship!" She gestured with excitement, tucked the moogle under her arm, and jogged back toward the fence between the jungle and the town.

Mekoshiko shook his head at the prank, sighed with relief that the creatures had been relatively small, then laughed to himself as he followed.


	7. Chapter 7: Time Traveler

Chapter 7: Time Traveler

Yuna and Baralai walked through the field of purple and blue flowers covering the ground of the Farplane beneath the misty waterfalls in the innermost chambers of the ship that formed Spira's infrastructure. Pyreflies, the primary elements of magic itself, swirled up around them until they came to a place where the flowers had been dug up all around a large, circular stone that bore the relief statue of a baby within it. Yuna knelt with sadness and touched a hand to the tomb - Arantisu's tomb. After plucking a couple of flowers to place on top of the tomb, she stood and continued walking further into the center of the Abyss.

The upper chamber of the Farplane that could be reached from Guadosalam was safe enough for anyone to enter and visit the "ghosts" of their loved ones, but only those strong in magic or immune to it entered the depths of the surreal realm and lived to tell about it because it housed some of the most dangerous fiends known to Spira. Having been in the dark heart of the Farplane once before, Yuna knew ahead of time to employ Shinra's old teleport module to ensure safer travel this time. But how this place existed, and how it managed to keep Spira alive when all else failed, remained a mystery to everyone.

"Bahamut?" She looked around for the spirit of the boy who had once been one of her most powerful aeons. "Bahamut, ... if you hear me, I'm sorry for disturbing your rest again, but I need to speak with you about something very important." Yuna turned a full circle looking at each pyrefly that floated past her. "We have another visitor from Zanarkand's past. He's very confused about how he came to be here, and frankly, so are we. We were wondering if ... there was another dream, or something."

From the gathering of pyreflies, the shadowy outline of a small boy in a purple, hooded shirt and knee-length shorts began to take form before her. "What is his name?"

Though she couldn't see anything of his face except his nose, mouth, and chin, Yuna smiled with relief that the Fayth was still willing to answer her call after all this time. "His name is Mekoshiko."

"From Zanarkand? I don't know this name."

"He was a player for the Duggles. He says he remembers Tidus."

"I never paid much attention to the Duggles. I was an Abes fan," he said with a shrug.

Yuna smiled at the serious boy's pride in that statement. "Yes, of course."

"I don't know of any second dream, either. One dream was hard enough to maintain, and I can't imagine any logical reason why Yevon would have created two."

Yuna stepped softly through the swaying flowers until she could crouch eye level with the boy. "Then, is it possible that the Farplane is suffering some kind of dimensional time rift and leaking into Spira?"

"The Farplane reaches throughout Spira like the branches and roots of a tree. Streams of magic flow through small spaces all the time. That is how the souls of the unsent are able to find their way here to join us. It is also how they collect substance enough to become fiends and stay there to cause problems for the living. But this has nothing to do with a time rift or a leak. It's just the way the Farplane was built into the ship. If the bridge is the brain of the ship, then the Farplane is its heart. The magic that flows from the Farplane is like the blood that courses through Spira's veins and keeps everything else running that sustains life."

"Well, then, is it possible that some kind of machina malfunction could damage that magic and make it bring the past into the present?"

"I don't know anything about machina malfunctions, but there is only one kind of magic that can bring the past into the present - summoning magic. Even you should know that, Lady Yuna."

"But summoning magic can only call or send spirits of the dead. It can't transport a living person through time. I need to know how time magic works."

"There's no such thing as time magic in the sense that you are speaking of it."

"Tidus can do time magic - all on his own, without enchanted weapons or armor."

"Finite time magic exists when a memory is reproduced among pyreflies, or when pockets of energy around people's bodies are slowed down or sped up. That's the kind of time magic that Tidus is, ... and does. He's the closest thing to a time traveler that you'll find on Spira. The Farplane itself is like time magic, too, but that's because it's infinite spirit energy. All of Spira's past life collects here to power the ship, so in that sense, the past will always be in the present. But outside of that, time travel does not exist." Bahamut was hesitant to point out her error in reasoning. "Living, human bodies wouldn't survive a thousand-year journey through time. Someone brought into the present from that far back in Zanarkand's past could only be dead, Lady Yuna, regardless of how alive he appears to be."

Yuna allowed herself a moment to apply that logic to the theories she and her friends had been tossing around concerning Mekoshiko.

Baralai, who had been silently standing behind her, was unhappy with that response. "So, you're saying that if this guy really is from Zanarkand, he _must_ be unsent?"

"Yes," Bahamut confirmed.

"I think I liked the idea of him being Meimo in disguise better," the praetor muttered.

Yuna shook her head refusing to believe it. "Meko is alive. When he was dying from poison, my magic healed him. If he was unsent, healing magic would have wounded him, like when we used healing spells and potions to fight the zombie guardians in Zanarkand and the zombie dragon that guarded Bevelle. That was also the strategy Lady Yunalesca and Maester Seymour used against us. They turned us into zombies and used healing magic to burn us."

"But some fiends have developed resistance to healing magic and use it the way the living do. That's why you have to fight them in a variety of ways. What about all those times your healing spells cured Auron when he was wounded?" Bahamut pointed out.

Yuna was stunned to remember that discrepancy with her unsent guardian. Kneeling down in the cool flowers, she sat back on her heels and tried to think. "But ... at the time I didn't even know ..."

"It didn't matter. Under normal conditions, you were able to heal Auron because his soul had not yet transformed into a fiend," Bahamut explained. "Not all lost souls are fiends, Lady Yuna. Sometimes they just haven't come home yet," he reminded her.

Yuna had to accept the fact that Mekoshiko couldn't be real, but to think that he might be unsent troubled her deeply. "Are you sure Meko isn't from some kind of alternate reality, ... like Tidus?"

"Tidus is a new spirit made from an old soul – a unique and experimental creation that would not have been possible without Lord Yevon's summoning of the Dream. If there is another like him, then he was summoned by someone other than us - someone with the power to create life from death like Lord Yevon and Lady Yunalesca. I would suggest that you send him as soon as possible."

"But … I can't send him without knowing why he came. What if he is like Auron and has some kind of promise he must keep?"

"Then help him find whatever he's searching for, so he can rest in peace. But be very careful, Lady Yuna. You must never forget what it was like to battle unsent spirits who possess the kind of magic it took to create him. You must never forget what it was like to battle a powerful necromancer."

Yuna nodded in agreement. "I understand. Thank you, Bahamut."

The small boy's body began to fade, and his pyreflies began to disperse.

"Wait! May I ask one more question of you? Or perhaps you could ask it of Shiva? Would you happen to know why the spring water in Macalania is losing it's ability to hold memories - why the forest is fading?"

"That is a question best answered by her."

"Rest in peace my friend," Yuna bid the small Fayth farewell.

As Bahamut faded, his pyreflies were assimilated and reshaped into a taller more mature spirit, that of a Yevonite priestess. "Greetings, Lady Yuna. It has been a long time since we last met."

"Shiva." Yuna rose to her feet once more. "Yes, ... it has." Seeing this former aeon for the first time since having sent all of them to the Farplane tapped a well-spring of emotion within her. After a thousand years of captivity, she had been happy to help set them free. And yet, after only one year of training with them, she had not wanted to see them go. "I have missed everyone so much."

"We are with you in spirit each time you are in _his_ company," Shiva gently reminded her.

"I know. And I thank you." Yuna smiled.

"My energy is not as strong as Bahamut's, and my rest is deep, so I must be brief. But I will try to answer your question. When my aeon's seal was placed in the Macalania Temple, my ice magic was so strong that it froze everything in the nearby vicinity. During the times when I wandered, I formed most of the blue crystal trees, froze the lake, and turned the rain to snow. The spring's memory water, however, came from a stream of magic that spilled into it from beneath Macalania's woods. The climate has changed in the region and the trees have faded because my magic has melted along with the snow and ice. I hear that the temple itself has now sunk to the bottom of the lake. If you want the magic to return to the spring water, I would suggest that you check that area first. Perhaps the melting of the ice and snow caused a blockage where the Farplane once touched the spring."

"You mean, ... it might be something a simple as a blocked channel?"

Shiva nodded and smiled.

"Well, at least one problem sounds easy to solve," Baralai spoke to Yuna.

"Thank you, Shiva." Yuna bowed respectfully as the spirit faded. Then, she faced her friend. "I guess that answers Gippal's question. But, ... what should we do about Mekoshiko?"

"Well, ... there's still a good chance that he is Meimo, since Meimo hasn't been accounted for yet. I think we should continue to keep him under observation. If he's not Meimo, then Meimo is still very much beyond our grasp." Baralai was at a loss. "I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for him. I'm sure he wouldn't go back to his old hideout in the sunken stadium at Zanarkand. That would be too obvious."

"But if he thinks that you think it's obvious, then he might do that. It's worth a look." Yuna tried to encourage him.

Baralai looked at her as if she were having a Rikku moment, but she had a point. "I suppose I'll have to check every place that he's been before, including here." He looked around the Abyss and toward the portal that led beyond it. "You and Tidus should reconsider hiding."

Yuna considered again what might happen if Meimo were to teleport Tidus into the Farplane. "I don't feel we should have to hide, but ... I will discuss it with him. He is more at risk than me. Meanwhile, ... what should I say to Meko? If he's not Meimo, he may not even know that he's not real. Tidus didn't know. Maechen didn't know."

"Ah, yes - the lore master. You'd think one would recognize that something fishy was going on if he lived for a thousand years. He probably just lost count of his birthdays." Baralai smirked. "Either he was part senile, part guado, or both to think that hanging around that long was normal."

"I think part of the reason he stayed was because a part of him felt that what he knew would someday be important. I'm glad he hung around as long as he did."

After that momentarily amusing thought, though, Baralai's serious nature couldn't help but resume being concerned and he gave a sigh at their dilemma. "Lady Yuna, the main reason the humans from Earth could not abide what went on with Spira's Farplane is that it allowed the dead to continue to walk the land of the living. And we have to admit that has caused not only minor problems with fiends, but major problems with Sin and the corruption of the Church of Yevon. Like Bahamut said, I don't think you should take Mekoshiko's appearance lightly. If he is unsent, you must find a way to send him as soon as possible. If you don't, ... then I must."

Yuna knew he was right and nodded in acceptance of his advice and decision, but she still had doubts. "If I had known Auron was unsent - if I had banished him before he could have fulfilled his promise - where would we be now?" She lifted her dual-colored eyes to the praetor and tilted her chin to one side, as if begging some sympathy for their mysterious guest. "Auron's presence beyond his death gave us life. And if we had known that Tidus wasn't real and sent him too soon ..."

Baralai wasn't happy with what she was suggesting, but he couldn't deny the role that Auron and Tidus played in helping rid them of Sin. "You are sure that you're not just asking for more time in hopes that Mekoshiko's another magical creation like Tidus?"

Yuna tried to look within herself and be honest with her feelings. "I think that until we find out for certain, he deserves a chance to be heard before he is banished. If he is simply unsent, we can force him to rest peacefully, but we may be throwing away something meant to help us. If he is like Tidus, we may be throwing away someone special ... forever."

"Lady Yuna?" a small child's voice spoke to her from behind.

Yuna turned to see who it was, but to her surprise, she didn't recognize this spirit at all. It was a small girl with long black hair, almond-shaped eyes, and pale white skin. Her fingers were long and thin, and her ears were long and pointed. Something about her looked almost frightening, but something about her also looked very familiar. Then it dawned on Yuna as she studied the spidery veins drawn beneath the delicate, translucent skin on the child's face - this girl was half-guado, ... and blind. "Arantisu?"

The child grinned with delight. "You recognized me!"

Astonished at the child's ghostly form, Baralai knelt to examine her unusual features. He could see resemblances to both her mother and father from the spheres that his temple had so jealously protected, but the blank stare from such bright blue eyes intrigued him.

Yuna felt her eyes moisten with pride. "I almost didn't. You went from a baby to a little girl in only one year. I didn't know spirits could grow."

"We can't. I just chose to shape myself bigger so I could talk to you. But it takes lots more pyreflies and concentration, and it's really hard to do. Thank you for the flowers. They're very pretty."

"You ... saw them?" Yuna asked with cautious doubt.

"No, I felt them when I crawled out of my tomb, but you're not the kind of person who would give ugly flowers."

Yuna smiled with sadness. "I'm sorry that you can't see them."

"Don't be sad. I can see just fine when I'm in my aeon form, but dragons can't talk. So I wanted to tell you that I want to learn how to change my dragon shape smaller the next time you call me. It's no fun sitting out on the beach all by myself. How can I shape my dragon form smaller, Lady Yuna?"

The summoner smiled lightly at the child's problem and leaned forward, placing her hands on her knees. "I honestly don't know, 'Tisu. I don't know anyone that can do shape magic, but Lulu might know of something that can help."

Arantisu became excited. "Can we go see her the next time you call me? Will you talk to her for me and tell her I want to learn how to shape myself smaller?"

"Yes, but ... it might be a while before we can call you out again. Remember Meimo - the man who tried to turn you into stone and steal your pendant?"

The ghostly girl clasped a hand over the necklace that she wore. "It was a gift from my mommy. He can't have it." She gave her head a fierce shake.

"I know. And we don't ever want him to take it away from you. So, you have to stay in here where you will be safe. If he tries to call you, you don't have to answer him. Okay?"

She was disappointed, but she nodded in understanding. "Okay."

Yuna reached out to smooth the young girl's hair, but her hand passed right through her. The spirit's ethereal transparency unnerved her, though she knew it shouldn't have. Perhaps it was disturbing because of the times her arms had passed through Tidus when trying to hold onto him after magic already began to undo his physical form. "I'll call you back as soon as I feel it's safe for you. Okay?"

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay. Did Tidus come with you?"

"No. I'm afraid Tidus can't come here. He'd turn into a ghost like you, only he wouldn't be able to come back out."

"Oh. My soul is bonded to my tomb." The girl pointed in the direction of the stone node, even though she couldn't focus her eyes on it. "It keeps me from being stuck in here. But I guess that kind of means I'm stuck over there, instead. That's why I like it so much when you call me out. I like the rest of Spira more. Everyone is so nice to me - especially Tidus." The unusual little girl beamed. "He lets me sleep on his bed. He gives me his food. He plays chase with me a lot. He's even fun to kiss." She giggled lightly behind her long, thin fingers.

Yuna couldn't help but smile. "I think so, too. Do you want me to tell him anything?"

"Tell him ..." She seemed to have trouble thinking of something, as if her concentration was strained. Then, her pyreflies began to disperse. "Tell him I like it when he takes me into the ocean for a swim."

"I can do that." Yuna lightly waved as the small girl grinned and her image faded. "She's amazing, isn't she?" She straightened and looked toward the stone disk in the field of flowers. "The Farplane is too strong for her. If she were moved to a temple, her spirit could probably roam more freely. It makes me wonder what kind of life she would have had, if ... " She stopped herself with a sigh. "It's going to make me angry just thinking about it again. How could those people - her own grandfather - want to destroy her like that? I'll bet they're the ones that damaged her eyes when they tried to kill her and her family."

"Regardless of what might have been, it is good that Arantisu is the guardian of the key to the bridge. The pendant is only accessible while she's in her aeon form. Did you notice that? You can't physically touch her spirit." Baralai stood from his kneeling position to face Yuna. "That's a mark in our favor as long as she stays here in the Abyss."

))((

By the time Tidus, Meko, and Rikku returned to the Celcius it was already dusk. "Not a word - not a single word," Tidus warned as he marched past Buddy, Brother, and Cid, who were seated at the game table in the crews' cabin. He paused only for a moment to remove the too-small slippers that were pinching his feet before jogging up the stairs to the loft.

Rikku skipped to the rail and leaned back to look up as he ascended the stairs. "And to think … All those times you mocked me because of my nightshirt and fuzzy slippers ..."

Tidus immediately jerked the hem of the nightshirt closer around his legs, gave her a dirty look, and hurried up the rest of the stairs to his trunk to dig through it for his own clothing.

Paine looked up from her reading and tried to hide a smile behind the back of her hand. "Lose something?"

"Shut up," he growled, casting the slippers onto Rikku's bed. "I know you were in on this little joke, too, so don't even bother to deny it."

"Me?" Paine faked innocence. "I was nearly killed by a giant squid today. Do I look like I care about why you got the urge to dress in Rikku's clothing?"

Grabbing a shirt and pair of shorts, Tidus straightened with curiosity. "Giant squid? Where?"

"Near where we found Meko. I think it's the same squid that attacked him. It's suckers had a venom in them, and I've never seen anything that big this close to … shore." Paine snickered and shook her head at the impossibility of keeping a straight face, considering the contrast between his threatening expression and his questionable attire. "Would you just go change, please? I can't handle talking to you while you're in Rikku's nightshirt. It's disturbing."

Frowning, he dropped the lid of the trunk, then headed back down the stairs to the bathroom. Giving the Al-Bhed girl another dirty look for her prank, he shut the door and locked it.

))((

Paine rose from her bed and leaned over the rail to see who was present on the lower level. "Where's Wakka?"

"He went home to get his own clothes," Rikku reported with a giggle.

"Aw, I kinda wanted to see him get pranked, too. Did you record it?"

Rikku's strawberry blond head bobbed several times with excitement as she held up the memory sphere. "It was hilarious! They changed into my mascot and thief spheres as well. You should have seen their faces. Especially when Tidus tried to fight a dinonix using the moogle!" Rikku cackled just thinking about it again.

Paine grinned as she made her way down stairs. "Was it a good show?"

Mekoshiko laughed appreciatively. "That was pure evil."

"No more evil than telling Yuna and Lulu they were scary." Paine shrugged with a smirk. "Lulu thought she could show them something scarier."

"Seeing Tidus and Wakka in bikinis and miniskirts was very scary. That's something I never, _ever_, want to see again." Meko protectively covered his eyes. "It's bad enough the image burned itself into my skull. I'm surprised I'm not blinded for life."

Paine chuckled and took the sphere from Rikku to review it herself. "This is great. Yuna came back from Bevelle a little while ago and went to talk to Lulu, but they're definitely going to want to see this."

"Okay, but let me sit down a bit first. It's been a loooooong day." Rikku flopped on a stool at the bar and sighed with humored satisfaction as she rubbed her side. "I think I pulled a muscle laughing myself to death."

Cid frowned at the prank. "Well, it's nice to see you girls enjoyed yourselves at their expenses," he sardonically scolded.

"Relax, Pop. They'll get over it," Rikku waved off the accusation. "We're always doing stuff like this to each other. You should expect it by now. Tidus and Wakka are like the brothers I never had."

Annoyed, Brother straightened in his seat. "You have a brother. I am your brother."

"Yeah, but you don't count." Rikku headed back toward the door of the cabin. "Never mind. I'll rest later. Let's go show the sphere to Yunie and Lulu now. They'll love it."

"At least I don't dress weird like they do." Brother showed his sister a fist of contempt.

Rikku paused and faced him with a crinkled nose and raised brow of disbelief. "Those were _my_ clothes, thankyouverymuch; they are not weird. And you are in no position to talk about my clothes when you haven't changed pants in the past five years." She pushed a finger into the button that manually opened the door and led the way to the lift.

Paine, holding the sphere, followed her out.

))((

"At least I don't change hairstyles more often than I change underwear!" Brother shouted back in retaliation.

Buddy looked from Rikku's exit, to Brother, to the game board and made his next move. "Okay, that was definitely too much information."

Cid shook his head and matched Buddy's piece on the table. "Hell's bells, that child's going to be high maintenance for whoever takes a liking to her. It's no wonder no one's taken her off my hands yet, when she goes around dressing boys like dolls."

))((

Lulu pulled back the curtain of her doorway to welcome Tidus inside. He was now dressed in his own Besaid-woven, white linen shorts and colorful tie-dyed tank, but Lulu took one look at him and did something he had never seen her do before. She turned aside and laughed to get it out of her system before she could face him seriously again.

Tidus sighed and rolled his eyes. "Ah-ha-ha-ha - very hilarious. You should be ashamed of yourself leaving me with nothing but a defective moogle to fight fiends." Moving past her, he saw the other three young women still laughing over the sphere in the center of the low table they had gathered around. Frowning at their mirth, he lifted his gaze to the back of the room where Wakka, now also dressed in his own denim shorts, sat on the bed beside Vidina, chin in his hand.

"They've been laughing like that for a solid half-hour," Wakka droned as his baby boy jabbered angrily at a toy he had dropped on the floor. Vidina started to reach toward it, but Wakka gripped the back of his diaper and dragged him back from the edge of the bed before he could fall off head-first. Then, he picked up the toy and passed it back to his son. "I don't think we'll ever live this one down, ya?" Wakka lifted his headband from the base of his neck up over his forehead to keep his wild carrot-colored hair under control. "It was kinda funny, though, watching it in the memory sphere," he admitted with a small laugh. "You shoulda seen the look on your face when you realized not even the moogle was worth a crap. Rikku zoomed on you right before she hit the ground laughing."

Tidus kept a straight face as Yuna stood and came to him, snickering as she tried to reach her arms around his waist. "No, don't even talk to me after pulling a stunt like that." He playfully pushed her arms away and stepped back, nearly stumbling over Paine. "Don't touch me either.'" When she tried again, he grasped her wrists and held her arms open and away from him, but he was also chuckling now. "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

"Almost as much as I enjoyed, 'Watch this trick! I'm gonna do Jecht Shot _four_!'" She held up two fingers, mimicking the sphere she had seen from when he – well, Shuyin, really - was only three years old.

Tidus flushed in embarrassment, but laughed at her imitation. "No, you didn't. Please tell me you didn't tell them about that."

Yuna giggled, but shook her head, much to his relief.

"You two should try out Yuna's dress sphere next, since you liked Rikku's so much." Lulu smirked as she set a plate of cheese cubes on the table for everyone to munch.

Tidus countered the suggestion with an amused snort. "You people have sick minds, you know that? Where do you hide your horns during the daylight hours?"

Still humored, Lulu moved to stand behind Wakka, folding her arms over his shoulders in a loving manner. "Well, at least you were level-headed enough to take your blitzball. Lizard fiends apparently have no sense of humor." She leaned forward to give him a kiss for being a good sport.

Wakka grinned, but then suddenly remembered something. "My blitzball!" Jumping up from the bed, he grabbed his back pack, set it on the table, and unzipped it. Fishy smell wafted out of the bag to overpower everyone sitting near it.

"Ugh," Rikku waved her hand. "Phew! That is one ripe blitzball."

The big man snatched up the bag and headed to the small kitchen to put away his purchases.

Lulu picked up Vidina so that he wouldn't be on the bed by himself and carried him at her hip as she crossed the hut to help Wakka unpack the food. "Did you get the bananas?" She peered into the bag and waved the fish smell from her nose.

Wakka froze for a moment and then turned on Rikku. "Whyyyyy didn't you remind me to get the bananas?"

"You said you didn't forget the bananas."

"I said I _wouldn't_ forget the bananas. When have you ever listened to me anyway!"

"_I _told you not to forget the bananas," Tidus piped up with a proud grin. "And Meko told you that zipping the bag would stink up the rest of the food. What'd you zip it for?"

"I was too busy thinking about having to fight three dinonix in fuzzy slippers!" Wakka fussed.

Rikku's face scrunched into a puzzled expression. "But only one of the dinonix was wearing fuzzy slippers."

Wakka gave her a deadpan expression for misinterpreting his comment, and he started to correct her when Paine interrupted.

"Wait, where's Meko? I thought we were supposed to keep an eye on him at all times to make sure he doesn't teleport."

"Oh, he asked to stay behind and shower because he spent all day in the same shirt and pants he washed ashore in," Tidus answered. "We kinda left for Kilika without giving him a chance to clean himself up after Baralai came over, so I gave him a change of clothes - something that wouldn't magically warp into a cat head or a thong," he emphatically inserted, casting an accusatory glance at each of the girls. "Buddy, Cid, and Brother are there to keep an eye on him, but I don't think we have to worry about him using teleport magic to escape. I don't think he's Meimo. I think he really came from the past."

"I think I have to agree," Paine added. "As I started to say earlier, I found a giant squid among the underwater ruins near the eastern cliff, and it did have a venomous grip to its tentacles. I'm pretty sure Meimo would have teleported beyond that thing's range if it had been him. And there's a stream of magic there that Mekoshiko could have come from, if he traveled through time using Farplane magic. It might even be where you came from," she told Tidus. "It's near the same place where you came out of the water last year. Anyway, everyone needs to stay clear of that area until we're sure that it's safe. I hurt him pretty bad, but he's probably still out there."

Tidus quirked a brow of doubt. "How'd you manage to take on something like that without help?"

Paine blinked at the blitzball player, not wanting to answer.

"Samurai ...?" He hefted an imaginary sword. "Black magic ...?" He wiggled his fingers. "Karate ...?" He struck a pose for hand-to-hand and kicked playfully toward her neck.

Paine sighed with resignation at his pestering. "Jecht Shot."

Tidus bent forward, hands on knees, in surprised amusement. "You beat down a giant squid with _my_ Jecht Shot?"

"It got him out of the water long enough to stun him, okay?"

The blitz player slowly grinned. "Does that mean you're going to thank me for teaching you something that saved your butt? Does that mean you'll admit that I am infinitely more superior at blitzball than you? Or that you'll finally apologize for being critical of my fighting style? Remember all those times you made me _bow_ to the floor because you said I was undisciplined?"

"Yuna." Paine cut her gaze toward the summoner, cuing her to muzzle her cocky boyfriend before she was tempted to hurt him.

Yuna gave her friend an apologetic smile. "Tidus, did you get a chance to talk to Mekoshiko like Baralai suggested?"

"Yeah, but he can't possibly be Meimo," he answered with the same confidence as he straightened and faced her.

The summoner seemed uneasy. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. He knew about the menu at the Waterwall, the Snake, ... He even knew about the 'AHHHH' at the dip between the library and the concert hall." His dramatization of roller-coaster ride arm movements only seemed to confuse her.

"The what? I don't -"

"He was there, I'm telling ya! Just like I was," he explained with growing excitement.

Yuna sympathized with what he wanted, but shook her head. "No, Tidus, ..."

"Well, okay, he's actually remembering Shuyin, instead of me. But … that's close enough, isn't it? He's really from Zanarkand, Yuna. Isn't that great? I'm not the only one anymore!"

Yuna didn't seem to think it was great, but she made herself smile at Tidus's happiness in having found a kindred spirit.


	8. Chapter 8: Rebound

Chapter 8: Rebound

The next morning, Yuna stirred in her sleep because she sensed a presence nearby. Slowly opening her forest-green and sea-blue eyes, she tried to focus on the blurry object outlined in the light from the window above her. Golden hair, yellow T-shirt, shiny earring, sunny smile ...

Hands on knees, Tidus was bending over her bedside, snickering to himself, waiting for her to wake up. "That must have been a good dream. You were making little whimper noises like when a dog sleeps."

Slightly embarrassed that she had been caught making noises in her sleep - slightly humored that he was obviously going out of his way to tease her about it - Yuna gave a luxurious stretch beneath her sheets but stayed comfortably nestled in place on her pillow. "It was a good dream." She played along in sleepy agreement.

"Was it about anyone I know?" he asked in a mischievous tone.

She placed the tip of her finger on the end of his slightly freckled nose. "Mekoshiko."

His entire expression fell. "What?"

Yuna laughed at his stunned reaction to that unexpected answer and drew an arm around his neck to pull him close for an apologetic kiss. "Okay, _maybe_ I was dreaming about you."

He easily recovered from her joke and grinned again, wanting to hear more about this good dream. "And what exactly were you dreaming about me?"

She gave him a sleepy smile. "I was thinking ... what a shame it was that you had to give up your futon for Mekoshiko to have a place to sleep last night."

"A shame that I was sleeping on a cold, hard floor alone when I could have been snuggled in a soft, warm bed?"

"Mh-hm. Because if I had offered to let you sleep in my bed, ..." She paused to brush his lips with a soft, inviting kiss. "Mekoshiko and I could have shared yours, since it has room for two. And then no one would have had to sleep on the floor."

"What!" He drew back and started to peel her arm from around his neck. "Okay, I don't want to hear any more about your doggy dreams."

Yuna chuckled to herself at his reaction, but then laced her fingers behind him to keep him from pulling too far away. "You know you're the only one I could ever dream about. Not even the sunlight can outshine you in the mornings," she muttered with an appreciative, sleepy smile.

"Good recovery." He kissed her, allowing his lips to linger on hers for a moment, and then he gave a hint of a mischievous smile and kissed her again.

"So, why were you hovering over me, hm?" she asked, somewhat suspiciously.

"This is my Arantisu imitation. I'll spare you the part where I kick you out of bed and lick you across the face, though."

Yuna giggled. "Thank you. Oh, I forgot to tell you last night. I saw Arantisu's true form in the Farplane, and she said to tell you that she liked it when you took her for swims. ... And when you played chase with her, and when you gave her your food, and let her sleep on your bed, ..."

"She spoke to you?"

"Yes. I think she's got a crush on you," Yuna whispered with amusement.

He made a face. "A _dragon_?"

"Her true spirit is a little girl, and you're her guardian."

"I'm _your_ guardian," he lightly argued.

"But Spira chose you to protect her."

"Yeah, and do you know how ridiculous that sounds? Dragons are supposed to be fire-breathing, blood-curdling monsters that strike fear into people's hearts, yet _I'm_ the one protecting _her_. It's because she's not enough like a dragon to even qualify as a dragon. She's more like a big dog - which I guess is okay because I was never allowed to have a dog, " he grumbled. "Wasn't my fault that stray I brought home ate the neighbor's goldfish right out of his pond. ... Well, okay, maybe it was."

Yuna gave him a doubtful look for that rambling confession. "Arantisu's not a dragon or a dog; she's a little girl," she repeated. "You'd think differently about that if you could actually see her."

"Well, I guess that will never happen since I can't go to her tomb in the Farplane, huh?"

"She seems so lonely down there. I can't even imagine what it would be like having to stay down there for so long, but wanting to be up here, instead."

"I can." He crouched beside the bed. He rested his chin in one hand near her pillow and toyed lightly with the frayed end of the long satin tie from her camisole. "Two years was too long."

"The Farplane is no place for restless souls like you and Arantisu. Both of you are so different from the other souls at rest there." Yuna pushed the hair back from his forehead and lazily watched it fall strand-by-strand back into his eyes. It was slightly damp and smelled like the sea, so that meant he had already been out for a morning swim as part of his training regimen, even off-season. She hardly ever thought of Tidus as being a spirit anymore, but when she did, it still amazed her that he seemed so real, right down to each hair on his head. "Her soul is bonded to her tomb just like one of the Fayth, so she's not really part of the Farplane yet. But she can't leave, and she can't rest. She's just ... stuck. I was wondering if it's possible to move her tomb somewhere else, so her spirit can run and play a little more."

"Hmm ... If it's made like those of the Fayth, then it probably weighs a ton. Where would you put her?"

Yuna was uncertain. "She likes Besaid, but Valefor's tomb is here. Even though Valefor's spirit has gone on to the Farplane, I wouldn't feel right replacing her shrine."

"Well, ... Luca's the only place I can think of that doesn't have an aeon, but it doesn't have a temple, either. And I don't think putting a dragon in Luca would be a good idea, anyway."

"No." Yuna had to agree with him. "Luca would probably be too complicated for her spirit form to navigate. She's blind. Did you know that?"

Tidus's expression registered surprise as much as his words. "No, I didn't know that."

"She said she sees just fine as an aeon, though."

"Well, I'll let you know if I come up with any ideas. What else did you find out yesterday? We got so distracted last night goofing around over that sphere that you didn't even get to tell us about your trip to Bevelle."

Yuna sat up in bed and sighed as she wrapped her arms around her knees over her sheets. "Well, ... Gippal agreed to do a check of the machina he's been working on, and he showed us where the sea water is pumped through to fill all the other water needs of Spira. He said it even goes to Macalania. He suspected that Shiva's absence wasn't the cause for the loss of magic in the spring, and when I spoke to Shiva she agreed. So, I'll talk to Gippal again about what she said. It sounds like a simple fix for a blocked stream of magic."

"Cool. And Bahamut?"

Yuna was hesitant. "He said the Farplane was fine. He didn't think Gippal's machina were responsible for bringing Meko here."

"No second dream either, I suppose?"

She shook her head in response and yawned as she rubbed her eyes.

"Meko's in the shower, by the way. He wants to go into the village for some supplies before we head out for Luca. I'll shower real quick and go with him to check on the hut; then we'll meet you and Rikku down at the docks."

"Okay." She nodded in easy agreement with that plan. "Is he ... adjusting well? To being here, I mean."

"Seems to be. He's anxious to go to the Zanarkand Library and see what he's missed. I think he still feels misplaced, but hopefully going to Luca and showing him around there will help get his mind off of worrying about going home for a little while." The blitzball player straightened and gave a big, overhead stretch before heading to the stairs.

Yuna smiled to herself at his natural ability to distract people from their worries and entertain them. "Tidus?"

He paused and faced her with expectation toward whatever she was going to say.

She wanted to tell him that Bahamut had suggested a way to send Meko home, but considering that meant actually _sending_ him, she couldn't bring herself to tell him yet - not _yet_. "Don't forget to wear something from your garment grid today. With Rikku's grid broken and Meko not having any weapons, you and I are the only defense options if fiends show up along Miihen."

"As long as it's _my_ grid, that shouldn't be a problem." He glanced toward her with a sly expression regarding her prank yesterday, and then he headed downstairs to eat some breakfast.

Yuna scratched lightly at the back of her chestnut-brown hair and smiled to herself at both the success of the prank and how well he handled it. Then, she threw back her sheet and swung her feet to the floor, ready to start a new day.

))((

After Tidus and Meko had both dressed and eaten breakfast, they left the Celsius and crossed the beach to head into Besaid Village. Dressed in sneakers, kakhi-colored travel pants, and a dull-red, T-shirt from his own garment grid, Tidus was ready for the day's long road trip. Mekoshiko's borrowed black sandals kicked up dust as he walked down the winding path beside him. With hands casually shoved deep into the large pockets of his like-wise borrowed cargo-pants, he studied how the thick vines and ferns of the jungle flourished underneath and around the scattered and broken ruins of ages past that dotted the island landscape. Cracked columns reached toward the leafy canopy that filtered the sunlight from the puffy clouds in the azure sky, but their colors were still so vivid and inviting that Meko finally stopped and placed a hand on one of them, as if he needed to touch the years of gathered dust and erosion to believe they were not recent, whimsical additions to the scenery. "Does Zanarkand look like this now?"

Tidus paused with him and allowed his attention to drift over the same structures. They had become second nature to him now, as they had to all the native islanders, but today he tried to see them the way he first remembered seeing them. "Not exactly. Yevon's spell to create the Fayth and Sin overwhelmed Zanarkand so much that it totally sucked the life out of the place. It's all gray, barren, and full of pyreflies now. Most of the city is underwater, and the entire basin flooded all the way up the road toward Gagazet. Nothing lives there now except for monkeys and the ronso who guard the grounds near the library to keep tourists from getting grab-happy with sphere hunting like they once did. Zanarkand is just too far north beyond the mountains for most people to visit, because except for a few Al-Bhed flying machina, transportation isn't what it used to be. In case you haven't noticed, technology as we knew it in Zanarkand is practically obsolete. Yevon had a large hand in that, first by destroying everything in his path with Sin, and then with the temples banning the use of machina among the general public. But I guess the main reason Zanarkand is rather isolated now is because the fiends make it too dangerous. And most Spirans consider it a sacred burial ground of sorts, so they don't want to disturb it."

Mekoshiko removed his hand from the fascinating ruins and started walking again. "How come Besaid doesn't look like Zanarkand? It used to be a big, thriving city – a beach resort and vacation place. Now there's just one street and a handful of bamboo huts?" The village in question came into sight as they continued down the road.

"Well, Sin used to strike every ten years from what I understand," Tidus answered. "So, these ruins are from a thousand years of people trying to rebuild, only to be crushed again. The population has gaps in it, too, because of that - not many very old or very young, and a lot of kids who grew up without one or both parents - but there are survivors scattered throughout the jungle around the island. This village just happens to be the main attraction because the temple and the big boats are here. Most people go to Kilika or Luca if they need to buy stuff, though." Tidus indicated the sack he carried that was full of small building supplies he bought yesterday before Rikku's little prank occurred. "I guess people here just decided temporary living conditions were more reliable than fighting the odds at building something permanent. Maybe they're waiting another ten years to be sure we're definitely having an Eternal Calm before trying to build a big city again, you know? I kinda like it this way, though. Life's a lot less complicated like this."

Mekoshiko smirked with mild surprise and patted the borrowed tank top that fit his larger frame a little more snug than when Tidus wore it. "Sounds like you know your history."

Tidus chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, I was never any good with explaining history. Tomorrow at the Zanarkand Library, you'll be able to get a better picture of what really happened after the Machina War."

"Hi, Tidus!" A familiar young boy and his friends ran to greet them as soon as they entered the village gates.

"Hey, Kusa! What's up, grasshopper?" he greeted the boy as they walked down the main road in the center of the village toward the market.

"Look what I learned how to do yesterday!"

Tidus paused and adjusted the dull red newsboy cap that he wore to keep the sun out of his eyes. "Okay, impress me."

Kusa ran toward the village wall, jumped, and planted his feet against it to thrust his body backwards into a flip.

Tidus could tell from the boy's angle that he was about to fall and injure himself, so he dropped his supply sack and lunged forward to help the kid complete the rotation to land on his feet in the sand. "Woah ... Don't practice that move against a wall anymore, okay? Practice it in the water. If that's supposed to be a sphere shot, it's meant to be done in the water anyway."

"Can you show us?"

"Yeah, can you show us?"

"Please?"

"Pleeeeeese!" The group of kids were all bouncing around him on their toes now.

Tidus gave Mekoshiko a flat expression. "I'm surrounded by jumping beans."

"Popular," the blue-haired blitzer commented with a chuckle.

"The advantage to living on a small island is that everyone knows you. The disadvantage to living on a small island is that everyone knows you." Tidus looked back to the kids. "I can't show you a sphere shot because I don't have a blitzball!" he dramatically complained to them. "It's not a sphere shot without a ball!"

Someone shoved a ball under his nose.

That wasn't what he wanted, but he sighed heavily and accepted the ball anyway amid the giggles. Turning the bill of his newsboy cap to the back of his head, he stepped forward to position himself and the ball for the difficult feat. "Stand back. Need space," he reminded them.

Mekoshiko laughed lightly at Tidus's willingness to do this and backed up along with the kids. When a few less-wary watchers among them continued to stand their ground, he grabbed the backs of their shirts and tugged them into his estimated safe zone. "It's all in the height of the jump and the speed of the rotation, but you gotta keep your eyes on the ball," he corrected Kusa. Everyone watched silently as Tidus threw the ball into the air and leaped up after it. Then, snickering to himself in a moment of inspiration from yesterday's fun, Meko jumped forward, leaped for the ball as well, and snapped it away from Tidus's reach.

Not expecting the move, Tidus swerved to avoid colliding with him, over-rotated, and stumbled backwards rather ungracefully, landing on his backside. The children in the gathered circle burst into giggles and laughter.

Meko laughed with them for a moment, but then he tossed the ball high, leaped after it in his own sphere shot, and kicked it all the way to the palm trees near the temple. His landing was not as graceful as he hoped, but the kids loved it and fell out with more laughter before running away to hunt down their ball.

Tidus looked at the blue-haired athlete sitting next to him in the sandy path and gave a snort of amusement. "What are you trying to do? Show me up in front of my fans?"

"Sorry. Couldn't resist." Mekoshiko chuckled as he stood, dusted the sand from his pants, and held out a hand to Tidus.

Tidus accepted the offer and stood to dust himself off as well. "I almost kicked _you_ into those trees, you know."

"Please. You couldn't even keep a baby dragon from sacking you."

"Yeah, well, you'll eat those words when that dragon joins my team against you at the next beach game," Tidus jokingly threatened and pulled some money out of his pocket. "Okay. Here's some gil. I know you just wanted some basic potions and stuff, but go ahead and get yourself a weapon of some kind, if they have anything reasonably priced. You don't want to be caught unprepared on the highroad if fiends show up. I gotta take this sack of nails and stuff to my house. I'll come back for you in a few. Later." Tidus turned his newsboy cap back around so that the bill was over his brow once more. Then, with a grin, he picked up his dropped sack and jogged in the direction of his hut.

Mekoshiko waved and headed into the market hut. The native islander sitting on the floor behind a table near some of the display items smiled coyly at him and bowed in polite greeting, so he smiled and bowed in return. Then, he moved to the area of the small shop that displayed the weapons.

"You have no weapon talent, but you're strong. Forgo the shield and choose a two-handed sword," someone behind him spoke.

Meko turned and found himself facing an old man. The man had a stooped posture and used a walking cane, but he met Mekoshiko's gaze with a strong, piercing stare.

"Once you've made your purchase, meet me behind the temple and tell me what you know. Perhaps I can give you some training pointers."

Meko watched warily as the old man coughed and exited. Then, after a brief moment, he turned to face the weapons display once more. Frowning to himself, slightly resentful of the blunt assessment of his skills, he lifted a very large sword in his hands and pulled it from the sheath to check the blade before taking it with him to the shopkeeper for purchase.

))((

Tidus jogged to his hut and walked through the open front door. Awed, he set down the bag of nails and walked across the cedar floorboards into the back rooms. Brother, Cid, and Buddy had made a lot of progress yesterday while he and Wakka were goofing around in Kilika. The exterior of the structure was now completely in place. So, as he paced from one back room into another, he began to envision what the interior might look like once the colorfully woven fabrics typical of Besaid's tent-like architecture were hung over the walls, ceilings, doors, and windows. He put a hand against one unplastered, bamboo-packed wall and pushed to see how firm it was. When he had satisfied himself well enough that the project was almost finished, he ran back to the market.

Entering the trade hut, he looked around the small area of wares, but Mekoshiko was nowhere in sight. Puzzled, Tidus went back outside. "Hey! Kusa!" he called to the boy playing near the temple steps with the recovered ball.

The boy paused his game with his friends and ran to meet Tidus as he approached. "Yeah?"

"That guy with blue hair ... Did you see if he left the village and went back toward the beach?"

"Nope. He went behind the temple with some old man."

Tidus quirked a brow. "What old man?"

Kusa shrugged. "I don't know. Just some old man. Want me to go get him?"

"Nah, I can do it. Thanks." Tidus adjusted his cap and jogged up the temple steps, then headed around the right bank to the grassy area in the back. "What old man?" he muttered to himself again. "Everyone on this island has a name, and everyone knows every old man, ... unless he's visiting from somewhere else." As he rounded the corner, Mekoshiko came into view, but no old man was with him.

"Oh, hey. Sorry for disappearing on you like that, but I needed to try this out in a place where I wouldn't hurt anyone. I've um, ..." Meko sheathed the weapon he had been testing. "I've never actually used a sword before. Never had much of a chance for it, living in the city, you know. I probably suck at handling anything other than a blitzball, just so you know."

Tidus shrugged. "Then use a blitzball. That's what Wakka does. Why'd you choose a sword?"

He shook his head with a snort. "Some old man told me to choose this weapon and then offered to teach me a little about how to use it."

Tidus's brow rose in doubt. "I don't know of any old geezers in this village that could hack that thing around."

"Well, he didn't actually handle it himself. Just gave me some advice, and I could use any advice offered at this stage."

"I can do some training with you later, if you like. 'Course I'll have to be merciless about it since you sabotaged my sphere shot demonstration."

Mekoshiko laughed lightly and strapped the new weapon over his back and shoulder. "Fair enough." When he finished, he straightened and faced Tidus. "How do I look?"

"Like a rock star who doesn't know how to use a sword." Tidus grabbed the strap, jerked it down into proper position, and then walked away shaking his head and chuckling to himself.

"Rock star?" Meko mildly argued as he followed.

"Blue hair, snake earring, 'Horny Mauler' tattoo ..." Tidus shrugged in amusement as he walked back toward the village gates.

Mekoshiko laughed and stopped to show his bicep tattoo to Tidus. "'_Thorn_ Mauler'."

Tidus took a closer look and giggled at his own mistake. "Woops. My bad."

"That's why it's written under a band of thorns," Meko pointed out the obvious. "It's my special blitzball defense I was working on." He chuckled and bumped his elbow against Tidus's shoulder for the humorous misinterpretation.

"Even more reason to get a blitzball with spikes instead of a sword so big that you can't even swing it." Stuffing his hands deep into his pockets, Tidus continued walking.

"Don't worry. I won't swing it around you. You're already kinda short, and I wouldn't want to knock off any more height." Meko held a hand level to his own chin and then moved it over Tidus's head in amused comparison.

"What are you - Wakka's evil twin?" Tidus smacked the hand away. "Looks like I'm going to have to let a little air out of your blitzball, dude."

"You better be prepared to meet the Thorn Mauler, then. Makes other tackles pale by comparison."

Tidus chuckled and broke into a jog as soon as they were beyond the village perimeter. "Come on. We'd better hurry. Yuna and Rikku are probably at the docks by now. Luca awaits!"

"Woohoo! Luca awaits!" Meko picked up his pace and jogged alongside him.

))((

After spending the morning showing Meko around the large city of Luca and introducing him to some of the local forms of entertainment, the group of four headed down the Miihen Highway on foot to show him how other scenic parts of Spira had been left in ruins by Sin's destructive power, but had not been rebuilt. Meko enjoyed seeing the red-rock cliffs of the region, but he seemed amazed that nearly everywhere they went there were more ruins. He asked a lot of questions about life on Spira, the Church of Yevon, and how they finally managed to defeat Sin. The other three answered his questions and enjoyed telling him about their experiences, big and small, even if not all of those experiences had been good ones.

The weather had been unusually hot and dry in that region lately, so they were all feeling rather limp and parched later that evening when they finally came to the door of Rin's Travel Agency.

The blond Al Bhed stocking memory spheres on his shelves grinned at the sight of three familiar faces in the group as they spilled into his shop. "Good day to you Lady Yuna, ... Tidus, ... Rikku. Is there something you need?" Rin put down his box of memory spheres and spread his hands on the counter.

Tidus slapped the dust from his cap on the thigh of his pants and leaned his forearms on the counter. "Pizza. A great big pizza and lots and lots of tea."

"With pineapple!" Rikku insisted.

Tidus turned his chin toward her and made a face. "Pineapple tea? Gross."

"On the pizza, you dork," she corrected with a chuckle.

"Ew. I don't want pineapple on my pizza," Tidus complained.

Rin decided a compromise was in order. "One very large pizza coming up. Pineapple on the side. But surely you didn't come all the way out here to get a slice of pizza."

Rikku pulled out the sphere she had recorded of Tidus and Wakka and set it on the counter. "My dress plate is all messed up. See?"

"Aw, man, Rikku ..." Tidus winced and buried his face in his arms. "Can't you just tell him about it, instead of showing him that?"

Yuna giggled and patted his back. "They say a picture is worth a thousand words, you know."

Rin watched the last several minutes of the garment grid malfunction and laughed as heartily as everyone else who had watched it.

"What happened is that I switched spheres while wearing that nightshirt, ... and now I can't get to my warrior sphere," Rikku added when it finished playing. She pulled out her golden sphere plate and set it on the counter. "We were hoping Shinra could fix it, since he's the one that made it. Is he still here with you?"

Rin passed her memory sphere back to her and picked up the grid with the small, marble-sized, dress spheres instead. "He is down in the basement working on a project, as usual. If you have a seat, I will warm your pizza and let him know you are here. May I take this to him?"

"Yes." Rikku smiled and moved toward the table to take a chair. "Thanks, Rin."

Yuna, Tidus, and Meko followed her to the table, and each of them sighed as they dropped into their chosen seats around it. They were glad to be able to rest and relax after the long day of travel. Yuna was glad that she chose to wear her long, long hair braided into a fanciful topknot for the journey, and Rikku lifted her bushy ponytail to fan the back of her neck with a laminated menu from the center of the table. Meko ran his hands through his sweaty hair and leaned back to stare at the ceiling fan for a moment as Tidus slouched forward like a rag doll, laying his cheek on the cool wooden surface of the table top.

"There's nothing worse than crossing a water fiend on a hot day and taking it down so easily that you don't even get squirted with a good shot of cold water magic first," Tidus lamented of their last encounter before arriving.

"Well, if you had let me play with it a little first instead of slamming into it with that electrified sword of yours then maybe I could have made it mad enough to hose all of us down before getting rid of it." Rikku straightened her white shorts and peach T-shirt. Then, she sighed with disappointment. "Such ordinary clothes. I feel so naked without my grid."

"That was a good slam," Tidus commented to himself, ignoring her grid complaints.

She snorted and gave a limp wave. "It's the lightning magic on the sword that killed it - not your slam."

"It was still a good slam." He lifted his head and stuck his tongue out at her. "Hey, Meko. You should have tested out that Horny Mauler move on it," he added with a giggle.

Mekoshiko gave a small, tired chuckle. "It's _Thorn_ Mauler. You're going to kill my reputation with girls here before I even get one."

Yuna set her chin in hand. "I thought you said you had a girlfriend, Meko."

"I did. He's just being a smart-ass." He cast Tidus a humored glance and toyed with the sauce jars in the center of the table as he waited for his food.

"Like when you jerked the ball away from me while I was in the middle of a sphere shot?"

"You set yourself up for that." Meko laughed to himself, proud of his little joke. "Just like when you called Yuna scary and made fun of Rikku, then got zapped with the funky dress spheres. That's how you were in Zanarkand, too. Acting all cocky for the cameras, but it always rebounded to bite you in the butt, didn't it."

Tidus laughed and sat back to stretch his legs. "I'm not cocky; I'm _confident_. And you're starting to sound like Paine's evil twin now. Which reminds me, I can't let her forget that she used _my _Jecht Shot to stun a squid. Maybe I should buy her a blitzball with squid on it. Where could I get something like that?"

"Oberman's Sports Shop would have had it," Meko suggested.

"Oh, man. Oberman's carried everything," Tidus agreed with a chuckle. "Did you ever see those surfboards with the ronso on them? Those were sweet."

"I remember those!" Mekoshiko sat up straight and laughed as he pounded the table. "I wanted to get one, but my girlfriend said they were dumb since ronso don't surf."

"But that's what was so great about them!"

"I know!"

Tidus elbowed Yuna. "Can you imagine Kimahri on a surfboard?"

While Tidus and Mekoshiko cracked up over the ridiculous item, Yuna smiled to herself at how easily they seemed to hit it off with each other. It was fun to see Tidus find common ground with Meko that no one else could really understand. Still, she sighed to herself thinking of Bahamut's advice on the matter. If Mekoshiko was unsent, somehow she had to find out his purpose in being there - the sooner the better – before Tidus became too attached to his new friend.


	9. Chapter 9:  Streams and Sands of Time

Chapter 9: Streams and Sands of Time

While sitting in Rin's Travel Agency and waiting for her food to arrive, Rikku grabbed the Kilika memory sphere again and rewound it to the beginning when she was recording the shop wares. Leaning across the table, she showed it to Yuna as the blitzball sheets came into view. "Look at this one. You have to get this for Tidus."

"I don't want blitzball sheets," he repeated when he saw Yuna grinning. "How immature can you get?"

Rikku frowned and knocked the bill of his cap down over his eyes. "It's that kind of comment that got you in trouble in the first place, you know."

Tidus tilted his head back to see her beneath the pushed down bill.

Yuna chuckled at their sibling-like rivalry and scratched her nails lightly over the shoulder strap of her baby-doll halter. Her updated singer sphere had allowed her to demonstrate to Mekoshiko how a garment grid should properly work and show him a little of its other kinds of magic. As fiends and wild animals attempted to ambush them along the highway, Yuna would cast magic to blind or disable the beasts in some other way, and Tidus would immediately follow up on the offensive with his quick and decisive sword attacks.

Mekoshiko was impressed with how well the couple worked together, both in the defense of the group and in general interaction with each other. As he watched Yuna rewind the water-filled globe to previous views of Rikku's recordings, everything about her seemed soft and delicate, from her clothing and voice to her healing touch and her smile. And yet, she had shown just as much strength as Tidus when faced with those highway fiends. She made Meko think of his own girlfriend back in Zanarkand - a girl he would probably never see again.

Oblivious to Meko's gaze on her, Yuna pressed the pause button and leaned sideways, holding the sphere for Tidus to see. "I like this one."

Tidus briefly examined the still-shot. "Go for it."

"Do you like it?"

"Sure." He shrugged.

Yuna's brows rose. "Then why did you shrug?"

He shrugged again. "Habit?"

"Well, it's not a very enthusiastic response. It means you don't know if you like it."

"If I didn't like it I'd say so."

"But you didn't say you _did_ like it."

Tidus faced the other blitzball player with a flat expression that brought Meko out of his daze and made him laugh. "Give it up, man. You're not going to win by being neutral."

Tidus shook his head and smirked to himself as he adjusted his hat back above his brow line.

Just about that time, a boy carrying a large pizza in one hand and Rikku's dress plate in the other came from the back rooms and set the food in the center of the table for them. The fact that he was dressed in Al-Bhed coveralls was about the only thing familiar in his appearance because the youth had experienced quite a growth spurt over the past year and his mask was propped on top of his head instead of over his face. "Hi, guys."

"Shinra! You are fast, little dude! Did you fix the grid already?" Tidus dug at one of the pizza slices and began eating.

"It's good to see you again, too, Tidus. How are things on the Celsius?"

"We're good," Yuna answered with her usual cheerful smile and set the memory sphere on the table. "What about you? How is your venture with Rin going?"

"Pretty good. It's still mostly in the research stage right now, though."

"Look at you. You've grown so tall. Wow, you look so different since the last time we saw you." Rikku grasped his cheeks in one hand and turned his head toward Yuna. "Isn't that just the sweetest little face?"

Tidus noticed the strained tolerance in Shinra's squished expression. "Rikku, let the kid go. You're acting like the Aunt from Hell."

Rikku quirked a brow at him in defiant response. "Shinra, want to see what Tidus was up to yesterday?"

"No, he doesn't." Tidus confiscated the sphere before she could offer it for public viewing again. "He's here to fix your dress sphere."

The boy genius smirked and shook his head. "Nothing ever changes with you guys." But then his attention shifted to the new face among them. "Except for you," he added, bowing politely to the stranger.

"Meko, this is Shinra. He used to work on the Celsius with us. He's really smart. He knows _everything_, right?" Yuna mildly teased the boy about his own boast.

"Yeah," he boldly agreed in spite of his blush at her compliment. "Are you the guy who took my place in the Gullwings?"

Meko had been choosing a slice of pizza and paused in mid-movement. "Ah, no. I'm just visiting. My name's Mekoshiko. Nice to meet you." He nodded a few times in response to the boy's more formal greeting and finished claiming his slice to eat.

"Don't tell me Tidus filled my position." Shinra blinked at the group with doubt.

"Yeah, like I'd be able to figure out even one of your contraptions," Tidus answered. "My hut's almost finished, though. And I was told you intended to wire it somehow. What's that all about?"

The boy gave a small, almost devious-looking smile. "It's a surprise. Is the exterior done yet?"

"Looks like they just finished it yesterday. All they have left is the walls and some of the fixtures on the inside. Should be completely done within a week now."

"Okay. I'll stop by tomorrow. Yuna, I was told you're buying some stuff for the house, so I'll need to talk with you."

"Oh, but ... we were going to take Meko to the Zanarkand Library tomorrow."

"It's okay. I can take him," Tidus offered. "You should stay and make sure Shinra doesn't install any hidden com spheres in weird places."

"Okay," she agreed, giving Meko an uneasy glance.

Meko took note of her hesitation.

Producing the broken garment grid, Shinra leaned on the table, holding the golden plate for everyone to see. "Rin said you lost clothing in a dress sphere, which means you added clothing without adding spheres." He glanced to Rikku. "What you've done is like squeezing thirteen eggs into a carton that only holds a dozen. You've broken one of the eggs and pushed its contents out of existence to make room for the new one."

Tidus raised a hand to interrupt him. "Uh, … make that fifteen eggs into a dozen. My thief sphere and Wakka's regular clothes are also trapped in there now."

"What? You mean my warrior sphere's a broken egg, and I'll never get it back?" Rikku pouted.

"No, the residue is still there. Nothing ever totally disappears … unless it never existed in the first place. It's just really messy because your warrior sphere has probably been absorbed into the grid itself and pushed into the plane of magic."

Yuna leaned forward with interest. "You mean Rikku's dress sphere exists somewhere in the Farplane?"

"All magic on Spira comes out of the Farplane, and all magic spent in the material plane flows back into the plane of magic. It's an endless cycle that connects everything. The magical energy of the Farplane is what I've been researching for the past year, so I know of two ways to fix this. You could remove the nightshirt and buy all new warrior gear, transferring the magic from the old material into the new and replacing it the same way as you would normally update your grid."

Rikku began to fret. "That would be so expensive."

"And it wouldn't help me or Wakka get our stuff back," Tidus added.

"Or," Shinra continued, "I could remove the nightshirt gear, open the sphere that held it, and try to reconstruct it from the mess left behind."

"That sounds complicated," she pouted again.

"Complicated and time consuming," the youth agreed. "But in my experiments, I found a way to manipulate magical energy the same way that memory spheres do. It's all about knowing how to extract energy from pyreflies on a subatomic level. So far the small experiments have been successful."

Yuna couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Reconstructing ... what used to be there?"

Shinra gave it brief consideration. "It's like pulling something out of the past."

Mekoshiko could feel everyone's eyes settle on him for a brief moment. This kid, Shinra, had his undivided attention now.

"Shinra, do you think there is such a thing as time magic?" Yuna asked.

"Of course. Even Tidus can do time magic," the boy answered, as if that should have been obvious.

Tidus, chin in hand, smiled with pride, but then frowned when he realized the angle on that statement. "Wait, what do you mean '_even Tidus_'?"

"Not that kind of time magic," Yuna inserted. "I mean like what you're doing – reconstructing something in the present from out of the past."

"You mean do I think it's possible to go back in time? No. But it is possible to reproduce something from the past by drawing it out of the Farplane, just like when we use elemental magic out of the Farplane to create other spells. The Farplane is the spiritual essence of everything that ever existed on Spira in the past, so it's easy for pyreflies to assume those shapes once more when their life energy interacts with ours - or more specifically, our memories. This has been evident all along in things like memory spheres. But this is the first time we have been able to break down how it's done for memory magic and manually control it on a subatomic level. If I can continue my research successfully, Rin and I could create memory spheres without needing Macalania's water. And that's good news since most of what's coming out of there now can barely hold a fuzzy image."

Yuna saddened as Rin approached the table and placed tall glasses of ice cold tea in front of everyone. "But ... what about Macalania? I spoke to Shiva in the Farplane, and she said the problem might be as simple as a blocked a magic stream that flows beneath the spring. It would be easier to unblock a natural stream than to manufacture memory magic, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it be better to fix the forest than find a way to work around it?"

"It would be nice to make Macalania beautiful again, but that is something only the temple's aeon could fix," Rin prudently answered as everyone but Yuna reached for their tea. "With or without Macalania's magical spring water, it would be good to be able to tap the Farplane's energy in other places, and in a more direct manner, so that we can learn how to make other uses of it. It is a powerful, clean, and endless energy, which makes it a good business investment even though the research is new and the technology is still experimental."

Yuna frowned slightly at Rin's undertone of profit at the Farplane's expense. "Isn't that what Cid was thinking when he turned Zanarkand into a sphere hunter's playground?"

"It's not like that at all," Shinra continued, seeing her doubt. "As Spira continues to try to rebuild itself after what happened because of Sin, we'll need more energy. And the energy from the Farplane is strong enough that it could power a huge city like Bevelle. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that's what powered Zanarkand. We've got to find other ways to use this resource if we hope to rebuild our world. It's just sitting down there unused, and I'm sure that's why it was created in the first place - to power the ship within the planet. Reconstructing technology from the past is just one small possibility of what could be done with it. And when you think about it, it's really no different from what we Al-Bhed are already doing anyway digging up ancient machina and repairing them. But this way, manufacturing something from magic will actually conserve Spira's natural resources. Think of it as the ultimate in recycling technology." The boy smiled confidently and folded his arms over his baggy sleeves.

"Excuse me," Meko spoke up. "But, ... do you think there is any way for this manufactured magic to recreate more than just lost clothing and old machina? I mean, like, ... could you reconstruct buildings, cities, ... people?"

Shinra thought about the possibilities for a moment. "The ability to manufacture an entire city from illusionary magic, including its people, is kind of what Yevon did when he summoned Dream Zanarkand, isn't it?" He looked to Tidus.

Tidus cast a cautious side-glance toward Mekoshiko and hesitated to answer.

Yuna looked at Tidus with concern, but then shifted to Mekoshiko for an unsettled moment before returning her attention to the whiz kid. "Shinra, if you can draw something from the past into the present, is it possible to send someone from the present back into the past?"

Shinra shook his head. "No. It doesn't work backwards. You can't insert something from the future into the past that didn't exist back then. It's composition would probably unravel and disappear. Theoretically speaking, the only way you could insert something into the past is if it were strictly an illusion. But then that can't be considered a true manipulation of time because it couldn't be applied to reality. That would be creating an alternate world, rather than recreating a lost one, … right?" Again he looked to Tidus.

Tidus frowned at him for continuing to single him out on this subject. "How would I know about anything like that? I'm not a rocket scientist." With a discouraged sigh, he slumped in his seat.

"Do you think that's how ... Yevon created the aeons?" Yuna persisted.

The youth shook his head. "No. To bring someone back from the dead is a very different kind of magic because it involves creating a new life, not just reconstructing an old one. Once life energy leaves the material plane, it cannot come back in a stable form. It's why Spira is plagued with fiends."

"But what about Auron? He didn't immediately return to the Farplane, and yet he didn't turn into a fiend."

"From what you've told me, Sir Auron was a very strong projection from the past that never left this life – an unsent ghost whose willpower was strong enough to help him maintain contact with the material plane. He didn't leave this world and then return to it as a new life. Based on what we know, the Fayth died in sacrifice, completely leaving their mortal lives behind before they were resurrected as aeons. Yevon is the only person in Spira's history who was capable of doing magic like that. And his magic was what created the Dream, so that's how -"

"Can we please not talk about this anymore?" Tidus interrupted Shinra's gesture toward him and pushed his hand away.

Shinra seemed surprised at the blitz player's unexpected annoyance.

Mekoshiko remembered Lulu's slip back on the airship when Tidus and Yuna were speaking with Baralai.

_"He's not really a living person. He's more like a living spirit. He came from a dream summoned by Yu Yevon's magic - a dream that was an exact replica of the real Zanarkand, but constructed from memories of the dead."_

Meko was desperate to learn more about this, but he held his tongue, guessing the conversation was getting too personal for Tidus. Even now, with the other Zanarkand native sitting so close, it was difficult to believe he wasn't real.

Yuna had a sudden realization. "No, there was one other: Maedra."

Shinra's brows rose. "Maedra? The guado who installed the Farplane for Spira ... Yes, he was the first one to teach Spira how to summon aeons."

"And he created an aeon from his own daughter, Arantisu, before he died," Yuna added. "I wonder if Yevon learned how to create aeons from Maedra?"

"Impossible. Maedra died many, many years before Yu Yevon was even born."

"But they appear to be the only two people in Spira's entire history with that knowledge."

"Necromancy isn't something that's stumbled upon by accident," Meko finally spoke up with a grave expression. "Maybe Maedra left behind journals, or something, and Yevon found them. But someone capable of raising the dead, … maybe they also knew something about time travel."

Yuna was thoughtful as she rubbed a shiver from her arms and considered the direction this conversation was turning. "It's possible, I guess."

Shinra sighed. "Well, I don't know anything about reconstructing living things, but I can try to reconstruct Rikku's warrior sphere based on patterns in memory magic the same way that a mage reconstructs elemental power in casting spells. Don't worry, Lady Yuna. As a scientist, my goal in this research is to find a safe, beneficial way to tap into all that potential energy. Biogenetics will stay out of it. I promise."

She nodded in acceptance of his self-proclaimed limitations.

"Well, the pizza's getting cold." Tidus changed the subject as he sat up and grabbed two slices, one for each hand. "Since you people are more interested in talking than eating, that's more for me."

Rikku pushed one of his wrists down onto the table. "Oi! You can't eat any until I've found my pieces first." She lifted each slice and examined the bottoms.

Meko's curiosity about this strange behavior finally got the better of him. "What are you doing?"

"Looking to see what kind of melted cheese is underneath," Rikku explained. "Every once in a while there's a slice where the cheese gooped over into the pan and got fried crispy. I like those pieces better." She checked one of the pieces in Tidus's hand. "Like this one."

Tidus drew his hand and the pizza slice out of her reach. "This one's mine."

"You already had a slice," Rikku argued. "Besides, there's a whole pizza on the table, but that's the only slice with crispy cheese."

Tidus acted as if he was considering her plea for a moment, but then took a big bite out of it anyway. "Oh! You're right. That crispy goop's _really good_."

Mekoshiko chuckled, glad to see the conversation return to a bit of humor, even though the previous topic still greatly intrigued him. Rin and Shinra laughed with him.

Rikku gasped. "What a pig! You did that on purpose!" She jerked the bill of his cap back down over his eyes, but made no further attempt to grab the pizza slice now.

"Yep." He took a bite out of the second slice he held. "I did that on purpose, too. Know what that means? That means both of these are mine. And because of your little sphere trick, I deserve them. In fact, maybe I ought to lick every slice so you can't have any." As soon as he said it, Rikku and Meko quickly grabbed their share of the remaining slices before he could follow up on that threat.

Giving him an innocent smile, Yuna slipped one of the slices out of his hand - in spite of his claim on it - and started to eat it.

"Excuse me?" he protested her theft.

Yuna laughed lightly behind her hand at his indignant expression, but then faced the boy-genius and their host again. "Shinra, Rin, ... I realize there is not as much profit in saving a forest, but ... Macalania is a very special place. It may never be what it once was, but maybe we could at least drain the excess water and fix the natural magic flow. Could you please share your research with Gippal? He's working on the water system of the ship right now, and he could use your help."

Shinra nodded. "Sure. I'll see what I can do."

"Perhaps even Gippal would be interested in joining our business venture. It is something he could make use of, too," Rin agreed with a smile.

The boy turned to Rin with a grin of appreciation for the man's entrepreneur genius. "If we join forces with the Machine Faction and use their reinvented machina to find new ways to extract energy from the life stream, just think of the possibilities for Spira's future."

))((

Later that evening, after the group teleported back to the airship from Rin's Travel Agency, Tidus went outside to sit on the shore and watch the sunset.

Yuna came to the edge of the landing gear on the airship and watched him for a long moment. He had been melancholy ever since they left Rin's. Pulling a yellow, lace shawl over her shoulders to keep the evening chill away, she clutched the Kilika sphere in one hand and made her way barefoot across the beach to sit down next to him. "I have something to show you." She grinned and passed him the sphere, thinking it might cheer him a little. "It's another sheet set, and the pattern is called 'Ocean Blue'. I really think it suits you."

Tidus had been occupying himself by sifting sand between his fingers, but he dusted his hands to accept the sphere. "Because I'm always in the ocean?"

"No."

"Because blitzballs are blue?"

Amused at his sardonic guesses, she flattened her palms on one propped knee and rested her chin on the back of her hand. "Because it matches your eyes."

Tidus stared somberly at the captured view of bamboo and wicker furnishings dressed in swirls of aquamarine and light blue. "I like it," he quietly stated.

Yuna smiled hearing the magic words, though he still didn't seem enthusiastic about it. "The sphere joke went a little too far, didn't it. Rikku shouldn't have shown it to Rin, and then there really was no need for her to show it to Shinra after we ate. I'll tell her you don't think it's funny anymore. She should respect that, if she knows it's how you really feel."

Tidus shook his head. "It's not that. It's just not very flattering to hear someone say I'm made of 'manufactured memory magic', … like I'm some kind of Al-Bhed assembly line product."

Yuna slipped an arm under his. Drawing closer, she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Well, Shinra and Rin _are_ Al-Bhed. They didn't mean to insult you; science and logic are just how they try to understand magic. All of your friends, including Rin and Shinra, know how unique you are."

"Meko doesn't know I'm manufactured yet, and I don't want him to find out."

"He might find it as fascinating as we do."

"Or it might totally freak him out."

"I don't think so. He seemed very interested in the discussion at Rin's."

Tidus glanced in her direction and set the sphere down. Picking up another handful of sand, he opened his palm and watched it fall between his fingers. "We're both from the past. We're both from Zanarkand. We're both blitzball players. But he's from the real Zanarkand. Me? I'm just ... bits of pyreflies the Fayth threw together using Yevon's spell."

As Yuna watched the sand flowing through his fingers, she couldn't help but think of how sand slips through an hourglass and buries ancient ruins – both measuring the passage of time in their own way. Zanarkand itself might have been covered in sand by now, if it had not been a coastal city. In one sense Tidus and Meko were both like buried treasures recovered from a submerged tomb. "There wouldn't be a beach without little bits of sand," she reminded him.

"At least the sand is real."

"Your soul is real."

"How can it be ... when I never really lived?" he muttered, as the last grains in his hand were spent. Digging his toes into the cool, wet sand where the tide was coming in and flowing out, he lifted his gaze to squint into the streaked horizon across the ocean.

"You lived a real life or they wouldn't have been able to recreate you."

"But I never lived as _me_," he answered in a somewhat testy tone. "Shuyin lived a real life. Me, … I was never really alive."

Her brows rose as her head tilted back so she could see his profile. "You're alive enough for me."

"Yuna ..." Shaking his head as if she just didn't get it, he shifted his position to directly face her. "You're always complaining about getting older; what if I can't age like you?"

She paused at his mention of something that admittedly had begun to worry her. "Auron aged," she reasoned.

"I'm not like Auron. I'm not some ghost clinging to a former life. How far into the future do you think we can go together if I don't age at the same rate as you? I don't mean just picking out sheets for the hut. I mean, … we might want kids some day, but if I'm not real, how is that possible? I know I'm supposed to be unique and all that crap, but I don't really know what that means for me."

Yuna angered slightly hearing him talk this way. "Yes, I complain about things like that sometimes when I think about them; but then I make myself _not _think about them. Because none of that really matters as long as I can be with you."

"Well, it matters to me. It's part of who I am. Or maybe it's part of who I'm _not_."

"Tidus, you have a real life, real friends, and real memories, regardless of what you're made of."

"But it doesn't _mean_ anything in the end! When you die, your soul will exist forever in the Farplane just like everyone else who was ever born on Spira. But me? I'll fade away to nothing. 'Nothing ever totally disappears, … unless it never existed in the first place.' That's what Shinra said. Well, I've been sent to the Farplane once already, and I almost totally disappeared. Dreams can't exist in the Farplane. Don't you see? In the end, ... I'm _nothing_, Yuna. I really am nothing but a manufactured memory."

She was silent for a long moment, not knowing how to answer him. She knew that what he said was factually true, but she had been so concerned about trying to keep him alive in the present that she never gave a thought to spending eternity in the Farplane without him. Most Spirans looked forward to reuniting with the spirits of their loved ones after death. But even if they lived a long and happy life together, in the end, would Tidus be lost to her? Nothing, not even the magic of the Fayth, would be able to stop the sands of time. Yuna suddenly threw her arms around his neck and held tightly to his solid form, as if to stop that from happening. "Then I will hold onto that memory forever."

He gently returned the hug, but it wasn't much consolation. In fact, it made him feel guilty. "Yuna, ... I've been thinking and ... maybe you shouldn't be wasting your life on a memory when you could have something real, instead."

Yuna drew back and stared at him in disbelief.

"If you hooked up with someone real, you could grow old together," he explained. "You could have kids and be a real family. And in the end, in the Farplane, … you could be together always."

She touched a hand to his cheek. "Tidus, _you_ are my always. You promised -"

"I know what I promised, but I just realized I don't _have_ an always. I don't exist beyond the summoning spell that holds me together. But with someone real you wouldn't have to worry about when he's going to dissolve. Maybe ..." Tidus pulled away and stood. "Maybe ... you really should start dreaming about Mekoshiko, or someone else."

"What?" Yuna was appalled. "I don't want Mekoshiko! I want you!" She stood to continue trying to reason with him, but her mix of emotions made other things spill out of her mouth instead. "Besides, Bahamut said that if Mekoshiko really is from Zanarkand, he's probably an unsent! You wouldn't want me stuck with someone unsent, would you?"

Of all the arguments he was prepared to hear from her, that was not one of them. "Unsent?"

Yuna tersely situated the shawl that was slipping off of her shoulder, but lowered her gaze in shame for raising her volume. She had already said it, though, so now she couldn't take it back. "I was hoping that maybe he was something different, ... like you, ... so that you wouldn't feel so alone. But living bodies can't transcend a thousand years and still be alive. Bahamut suggested that maybe he is like Auron - a ghost with unfinished business." She lifted her gaze to meet his once more. "I think we should try to find out why he's here before attempting to send him."

"Unsent?" Tidus still didn't seem to believe her. "But … if you think he's unsent, why didn't you say something sooner?"

Her brows lifted in sympathy. "Because you two really seemed to connect. It's as if you've been best friends for years. I didn't want to ruin that for you."

"So it was better for me to ignorantly pal around with a fiend than to just be honest with me?"

Yuna shook her head. "No, I thought -"

"You just thought you could take him on by yourself. Like when you left the rest of us in the dust and ran off with Seymour - twice."

How could he bring that up at a time like this? "I thought Seymour would be more likely to confess to the murder of Lord Jyscal the first time I went with him, and I thought I could send him while you were out of harm's way the second time."

"That's not teamwork."

Yuna frowned. "I'm a summoner - not a blitzball player. I may not be an expert in teamwork, but I know what I'm doing when it comes to unsent spirits."

"And while you're playing with unsent spirits, I'm supposed to be your guardian! How can I guard you if I don't know where you are or what you're doing?"

"I knew that if I told anyone what I was thinking, none of you would let me do it!"

"Because it was a stupid thing to do!"

"I needed your help to bring the Eternal Calm, but I don't need your _permission_ to do my job!"

Tidus bit his lip and turned away to keep the argument from escalating any further. Then, after he had calmed himself, he turned to face her again. "Well, then it's like I said when I first came back. Maybe you don't need a guardian anymore." Dusting the sand from his hands, he walked away.

Under the twilight of the rising moon, Yuna watched him jog into the distance, leaving the beach without looking back. Minutes later, after he disappeared from view, she still couldn't comprehend what had happened. Had he walked away to give her the freedom to find someone real? Or had she basically told him she didn't need him anymore? Should she run after him, or give him a few minutes alone? With blurry eyes, she sank to her knees and turned toward the ocean. The sky had darkened just enough for the moon's glow to reflect on the lucid surface. The water suddenly looked so empty, though she knew it was full of life beneath the waves. Yuna's gaze slowly returned to a dark shadow in the sand beside her foot. If she had forgotten it and gone inside, the Kilika memory sphere would have been washed away in the tide by morning.

Dusting the sand from the small globe, Yuna paused in realization. Then, she stood and ran across the beach after him. "Tidus!"

When she came to the crossroads and saw no trace of him, a moment of panic jolted through her body. Was he capable of willing himself to dissolve if he saw no point in existing anymore? Or had Meimo found him first and sent him to the Farplane? Reminding herself not to jump to conclusions, just because she didn't see any immediate trace of him, she ran toward the eastern cliff.

That's where she finally found him - where the scent of night-blooming hibiscus was heavy on the chilly breeze. Drawing her shawl close, she gave herself a moment to slow her breathing and think about what she wanted to say. Then, she walked to where he was sitting in the grass and crouched before him, drawing his attention down from the stars. "I'm sorry. I should have told you what Bahamut said. And ... I should have told you about my plans to send Seymour and confront him about his father. I put myself and everyone I love at risk when I become overconfident like that. Everyone teases you about your ego, but ... I guess I'm just as proud if I can't ask for help when it's wise to do so." Bowing her head to wipe away the tears, she continued. "I'm so very sorry. But please, ... please don't ever think that I don't need you."

Tidus sighed. "Yuna -" She surprised him by snapping her chin up with unlikely defiance on the heels of that apology. She apparently wasn't done yet.

"When you first came back, I didn't want you to go to Guadosalam's Farplane, but you reminded me that nothing lasts forever - not even in reality. You said that whether you were real or not, all anyone ever has is the time between here and there. Those were your own words! So, don't you give up on this life just because you won't last forever," she fussed. "I don't care how short or how long our time is, as long as we're together. You're _here_ now, … and I'm not ready to go _there _yet." She sniffled, took his hand, and firmly set the memory sphere in his palm. Then, she grabbed his head and stubbornly pressed her lips against his before folding her arms across her chest and scowling at him through more tears, as if daring him to walk away from her again.

Tidus blinked at her, completely stunned. "Wow. Angry kiss. We should argue more often."

Yuna sighed and relaxed back to her apologetic mode simply because it took too much effort to bully him into staying. "Tidus, ... what should I do about Mekoshiko? I know he could be dangerous, but ... I don't feel right trying to send him without knowing why he came to us."

He stared quietly at the sphere in his hand for a moment, as if debating something with himself. "I'll try to talk to him again tomorrow."

She sniffled again. "Thank you."

"And, ... I'm sorry, too." He lifted his eyes to meet hers once more. "I thought I was thinking of you by offering to bow out, but I guess I was really thinking about me, … and how … empty it feels sometimes knowing that I'm not ..."

"I know. I can't understand what it's like to be you, but … we all feel empty like that sometimes, regardless of how _real_ we really are. It's how I felt on the beach without you," she admitted as she attempted to dry the tears on one cheek.

Tidus's brows rose, then he leaned forward and kissed the other cheek. "Mm. Salty," he commented, as a light smile touched his lips.

Yuna sniffled once more and smiled in return.

He looked down again at the magic-water-filled sphere in his hand. "I guess I'm a lot like these things, aren't I? Nothing real or permanent because I came from a stream of magic, but I'm still good for a laugh."

"I love the way you make me laugh," she softly added. "Please stay with me."

He still seemed uncertain. "Are you sure that's the kind of future you want?"

Yuna leaned forward to touch her lips to his again, then rested her cheek against his.

Before he could doubt himself again, he reached to the clip that held her hair in the topknot, slipped it out, and watched the rest of the brown, shaggy length spill down to her shoulders. Then, he touched her cheek and turned her face toward him to return a deeper, longer kiss.

His position blocked a small gust of wind that blew off of the bay in the night air, but Yuna shivered all the same.

"Cold?" He quietly asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine. You're very warm." She smiled, noticing the shine in his eyes. "Still sad?"

"Nah, I'm good now," he softly answered and lightly rubbed a thumb over her lips.

Yuna's eyes closed for a moment at his touch. "You didn't really want to walk away, ... did you?"

"No."

Her head tilted to the left a little, and she smirked at the faint streak revealed on his cheek in the moonlight. "You were crying, too," she realized.

He shook his head in denial. "Who me? No way."

She touched his cheek. "Then, what's this?"

"Nothing but a figment of your imagination, … just like everything else," he countered. "It's all part of the illusion."

Yuna giggled reluctantly at his joke. "That's not funny."

"You laughed," he pointed out with a smirk.

"I don't ever want to hear you say that you're nothing – not ever again." She rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes once more, … content.

"Okay," he agreed. "Hey, do you think you could, ... you know, ... do that angry kiss thing again? That was kinda different for you, wasn't it."

When she opened her eyes and drew back, he wriggled his brows in a teasing manner. Yuna laughed in mild embarrassment at her own rudeness. "I was upset."

"Well, … I could upset you again," he offered.

"I'd rather you just hold me," she requested, almost ready to lose her smile to tears once more.

Seeing that she wasn't humored by that suggestion, he folded his arms over her shoulders and back, resting his chin on top of her head. "Mh, … I can do that too."

Sitting like that, feeling his warmth, aware of the perfume of the night blossoms and hearing the ocean waves crash against the cliff, Yuna didn't want to let go.

"I know where we should put Arantisu's tomb," Tidus decided after a long moment of shared silence.

Yuna looked up at him because that turn in conversation had been unexpected, but she knew exactly what he was thinking. The dragon aeon wasn't a Fayth, so she didn't belong in a temple. All she wanted was a bit a freedom to run with her friends and a chance to swim in the ocean.


	10. Chapter 10: Ghosts

Chapter 10: Ghosts

Yuna approached the door of Wakka and Lulu's hut and started to knock, when she saw that the storm door had already been pushed back to allow the morning breeze to ventilate through the small structure. She could hear Wakka growling like a monster within, followed by the squeals of a delighted child. Then there was a jerk on the door's drape near the bottom, and she looked down just as Vidina pulled up the hem and peered out at her in bright curiosity. Yuna grinned at the baby boy. "Peek-a-boo."

"Get back in here you little monkey!" Wakka fussed from within.

"Na-na!" Vidina grinned up at her, displaying four little teeth. He reached a chubby hand toward her, but was discouraged that she stood further away than she seemed.

"Na-na yourself," Wakka grumbled from behind the drape, but then he pulled it open and was surprised to see the summoner. "Oh! Yuna. I didn't know you were there. Come on in. Naked baby alert, though. He's not letting me dress him."

"Na-na! Na-na!" Vidina repeated and crawled forward to pull himself up using Yuna's legs. But when the large man snatched up the toddler in one arm to carry him back inside, the toddler immediately protested with a loud cry as he squirmed to break free.

"Cut it out before you fall on your head," Wakka warned him.

"He wants to see her," Lulu commented from where she knelt at the table with their breakfast. "If you let her hold him, he might be still long enough for you to get his clothes on."

"He wants to get down so he can scoot out the door again. That's what he wants," Wakka disagreed. The baby in his arms started to whine, fret, and squirm until he was red in the face.

"Wakka, … honestly …" Lulu stood and took the increasingly temperamental baby from his father to pass him into Yuna's arms. Then, she took the cloth diaper from Wakka and quickly folded it over Vidina's bare bottom, pressing the velcro straps in place. "'Na-na' _means _Yuna."

"Na-na?" Yuna chuckled lightly as the baby quieted to study her mouth, poke a finger at her lips, and then grasp her necklace. Entranced by the necklace and happy to be held by the person he chose, Vidina popped his thumb in his mouth and began sucking on it. "I didn't know he had a name for me." She shifted the baby around so that Lulu could whisk a light play-suit quickly over his head, turning him as necessary she could also tuck and tie the fastenings.

"He's inventing words all over the place now. You just have to know what to listen for." Lulu gave Wakka a told-you-so glance over her shoulder when she was done.

Wakka watched with mild disgust as the baby's pot-bellied ribs heaved a contented sigh and he rested his small, sweaty head against Yuna's shoulder. "Little mooch … Do you know how long I've been chasing him around the house to do what you just did in five seconds? It's because you're not his parent! He knows who spoils him, ya? You just wait. Someday when you have a little Tidus brat running around refusing to get dressed, I'll remind you of this."

Yuna couldn't help but laugh at the mental image that popped into her mind, and she gave Wakka a kitten-like smile as she cupped her hand over the baby's head to help comfort him. "At least we got him dressed, right?"

"Yeah, you laugh now, but we'll see who laughs then, ya? You'll end up with a kid just like him. And you'll be running all over this island trying to keep him out of trouble. And then when you're ready to tan his little backside, he'll come running to Uncle Wakka to get away from his mean old parents, that's what."

Amused at Wakka's prediction, Yuna lightly bounced the baby in her arms. "Well, until then, everyone from the Celcius is at the hut waiting for Shinra to do some work on Tidus's hut. He contacted us on the com sphere this morning and asked me to round up as many volunteers as possible to help out, so I came over to see if you'd like to join us."

Wakka snapped out of his stubborn mode and grinned in a sneaky manner. "Did he say what he was gonna do to it?"

"Not yet."

Wakka gave a low chuckle and rubbed his hands. "This I gotta see." He stepped past Yuna and headed out of his own hut and across the road where everyone else from the airship had gathered.

Lulu sighed and shook her head. "Somedays I wonder who's the bigger baby," she muttered as she returned to the table and knelt down to eat her breakfast once more. "Vidina's been fussy because he woke early from teething again, and he's been playing hard ever since. Wakka's been fussy because he was flipping him over his head in some wild game, but then expected him to hold still while he changed his diaper and dressed him. What Wakka hasn't learned yet is that once you start a game like that with a toddler, everything becomes a game. Give him a few minutes to quiet down, and he'll be asleep in a matter of seconds."

Careful of the baby she held, Yuna sat down on one of the brightly colored cushions near the table. "He's so sweet." She smoothed the soft, fine layer of ginger-colored hair on the baby's head.

"Spoken like a true non-parent," Lulu smirked. "Wakka's right. Vidina has learned who spoils him and who has to say 'no'. And he saves his worst tantrums for us so the rest of you will think he's an angel."

Yuna quieted for a moment as she stared at the sleepy baby. He was trying to sooth himself by sucking his thumb, but his other hand toyed lightly with the ronso beads in the left side of her hair. "Lulu, do you think ... " She felt strange even asking such a thing, but Lulu often seemed to have all the answers. "Do you think a magical illusion can have children?"

The black mage looked up from her fruit salad and slowed her chewing. As she studied Yuna's expression, she could easily guess the reason for her speculation on this topic. "I wouldn't think so," she admitted.

Disappointed, Yuna nodded in small gratitude for her honesty.

"Wakka and I spoke without thinking, didn't we. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. Really. I just ... never thought about that until last night." Yuna offered a smile to let Lulu know she was okay with that answer, but the smile was tainted with a hint of sadness. "I'm finding out there are … certain conditions that go with Tidus, you know? He can't go into places that carry Farplane magic. He doesn't seem to age. And there's still so much more we don't know about his ... differences."

"It's like that for everyone, though," Lulu answered, hoping to help ease her concern. "We all accept the people we love, knowing they have limitations."

Yuna nodded in agreement with the black mage's wisdom. "I try not to think about the differences, too much. But when he thinks about them, ... it just breaks my heart. He was very upset last night after a conversation with Rin and Shinra reminded him how surreal and temporary his existence really is."

Lulu's brows lifted as she lifted a glass of tea. "Most dreams only stick around for one night, and we can't even remember them the next day. He's already outlived the lot of them, if you ask me."

Yuna thought about that and smiled again. "I'll tell him that next time." Then, she made herself think of something else. "By the way, I saw Arantisu's spirit in the Farplane the other day. She was able to make herself appear older so she could speak to me, and she told me she wants to learn shape magic so she can come onto the ship with us. I told her I would ask if you could help."

"Sounds like she's already capable of shape-shifting if she can progress her own age. Although, it's easier to reshape an illusion than to reshape a real body. Pyrefly ghosts can only take on the shapes of past memories and present imaginations. It's possible Arantisu could shape her spirit however she presently imagines herself to be, but Tidus's body had to be based on memories of Shuyin." Lulu drank down the last of the cold liquid in the glass. "Shape-shifting is out of my league; I work with elemental magic. Tidus might be able to help her, though."

Yuna gave Lulu a puzzled look as she lightly patted the sleepy baby's back.

"Shape magic is all about adjusting the metaphysical composition of the body," the black mage explained. "That's what Tidus does when he slows or speeds time. He doesn't really adjust time, he adjusts how a person physically relates to it. It's still not true shape-shifting, but it's based on the same principle. Wakka does some of the same type of thing with his magic, so he might be able to help, too, but Tidus is probably the best candidate for teaching Arantisu how to control her own composition."

Yuna sighed. "I don't think he'll appreciate the irony."

Wakka pulled the drape back and stuck his head through the doorway. "Hey, Yuna. You coming to help do this thing? Shinra and Gippal are here."

"Gippal, too?" She stood carefully and prepared to pass the sleeping baby to his mother.

"Just hang onto him, and I'll come with you. He's a dead-weight when he sleeps like that." Lulu stood, but didn't bother with her shoes before following Wakka and Yuna to the unfinished building across the sandy road behind the first row of huts.

"Good morning." Yuna grinned seeing Gippal among her other friends. "I wasn't expecting you to come along."

"Shinra asked me to help out with his plans today." Gippal took note of the baby in her arms. "Wow, he's out cold."

Cid chuckled. "Little tyke looks all plum-tuckered out."

"I wish I could sleep that solid," Buddy added with a grin.

Brother gave a sigh and folded his hands to his cheek. "I would sleep like a baby, too, if I was in Yuna's arms."

Rikku rolled her eyes and stepped forward to tug lightly at the thumb in Vidina's mouth, but it was glued solidly in place, which made her giggle.

"Stop terrorizing the kid in his sleep," Paine responded by tugging lightly at Rikku's ponytail to pull her away.

Yuna turned so everyone could see Vidina's face better. "He's recharging his energy so he can terrorize Wakka again later."

Wakka cut her a flat, but mildly amused, side glance for that remark as he leaned against the fence. "Hey, maybe when we're done with Tidus's hut, everyone can help me build some back rooms, too. My hut was built just for me and was only meant to last until the next attack from Sin. But now there's Lu and Vidina, and that kid's into everything. He's a disaster to anything below knee level. Besides, it's time we had something permanent on this island other than the temple, ya? I've been here my whole life and that's the only building that hasn't changed. But that Zanarkand runt's been here only a year, and he's already got a more permanently fixed hut than I do."

Shinra smiled in a sly manner. "Permanently fixed wasn't exactly what I had in mind for Tidus."

Rikku approached the young teen, matching his sly smile. "Then what are you planning to do to him? I mean, … his house."

"It's a huge project, but it has to be done while he's gone if it's to be a surprise. So, I need all the help I can get. I'll explain after we go inside."

Yuna laughed lightly, then turned to Gippal. "Did Shinra give you my message from Shiva about Macalania?"

"Yeah. It doesn't sound like a simple fix to me, though. I mean, what could possibly block a stream of magic? It's _magic_," he shrugged at the obvious. "It's not like it has any substance unless it's shaped into a spell, ... or … Tidus," he lightly added for Yuna's sake.

"Or a fiend," Lulu inserted as she leaned against Wakka, pulling his arms around her waist.

"That would be one hell of a fat fiend to plug the entire bottom of Macalania's spring," Gippal retorted. Everyone chuckled at his blunt assessment of the situation.

Paine shook her head. "Do you intend to look for the stream of magic at the bottom of the spring or under it?"

"We'll check the bottom first. I don't even know if we can get underneath it. Crawlspace in the ship's interior gets limited beyond Bevelle, even though the diagnostics show the whole interior of the planet is a man-made construct. Most of that infrastructure can't be manhandled - at least not by humans. I think those are the areas that are the most dependent on the Farplane's magic."

"I don't think we're talking about a dammed up river basin," Shinra seconded Gippal's opinion. "Streams of magic are more fluid than streams of water. They can permeate almost anything. I think something is actually depleting the magic in the memory water for it to be disappearing. We'll check it out tomorrow."

"Let us know if you need help," Paine offered.

"We could always use help." Gippal grinned. "Hey, did you guys learn anything new on Meimo's whereabouts?"

"No. Nothing new from this end yet," Yuna answered. "What about you?"

"Well, I went with Baralai yesterday to examine Meimo's cell, and it's the weirdest thing. The cell itself was locked and in perfect condition, so he definitely escaped by teleportion. But his anti-magic bracers were all messed up."

Yuna frowned slightly at this news. "The bracers were destroyed?"

"Nope. They were in perfect condition, ... just no anti-magic."

Rikku scratched her head in confusion. "You think maybe he cast some sort of spell on them?"

"He couldn't have," Shinra concluded. "Anti-magic particles have been subatomically altered to act like a vacuum to all other kinds of magic. Spells cast anywhere near anti-magic get sucked back into the Farplane as fast as they are pulled out, usually with unpleasant side effects on the mage."

"Side effects?"

"Dismemberment, … death, … that sort of thing." The youth shrugged as if it were a minor flaw in the design.

Rikku's expression pinched in distaste.

"Because of the subatomic vacuum, if anyone cast any kind of magic near those bracers, there should have been at least one charbroiled body left behind in that cell," Gippal concluded. "In this case, it looks like the anti-magic was somehow drained away. Whatever happened, it left Meimo with an ordinary pair of bracers, which means he was probably able to teleport himself out of there as soon as he had enough time to regain his magical strength."

Lulu frowned slightly. "What kind of magic could dissolve anti-magic without the consequences of being sucked away with it?"

Gippal shifted his weight. "That's what we'd like to know."

Yuna wasn't sure what to think of the bewildering news, but an ominous feeling settled over her. "Magic that can dissolve all other kinds of magic ..."

Lulu faced her with concern. "Where's Tidus?"

"He went to the Zanarkand library with Meko. He wanted to show him the ruins and all the exhibits on display, like the Earth sphere."

"He's alone with him?" The black mage's concern turned into a scolding frown. "If Meko is Meimo in disguise, and he has a means of manipulating anti-magic, he's more dangerous to Tidus than the Farplane."

"Mekoshiko is not Meimo," Yuna stated, though she didn't look as certain as she sounded.

"You too easily trust, Yuna. How can you be so sure?"

"Tidus is sure. And … I have to trust his instincts. But since we don't know where Meimo is, I'll talk to Tidus about finding a place to lay low when he comes back." The idea of Tidus being dissolved by some kind of anti-magic stronger than the Farplane reminded Yuna of someone else who could be in danger. "Gippal, are you going back to Bevelle before you and Shinra go to Macalania?"

"Probably," he answered. "That's pretty much where I eat, sleep, and breathe now until the maintenance on Spira is finished."

"Could you do me a favor? Could you ask Baralai to have someone dig up Arantisu's tomb in the Farplane and bring her here?"

"Here? To Besaid?"

"I'd like to put her near the eastern cliff."

"Uh, ... Yuna?" Wakka spoke up hesitantly and scratched the back of his neck lightly. "Isn't that where Tidus likes to … you know -"

"Who told you that?" Yuna tried not to look embarrassed or surprised, as the baby in her arms shifted and started to wake.

"Well, actually … he did."

Her mouth dropped open. "He _told_ you?"

"Of course he told me."

Lulu put a hand to her forehead and gave it a mild shake. "Wakka, you are on a roll today."

"Whaaaat!" His shoulders rose in innocence. "He's gonna get pissed if you bulldoze his stargazing spot, ya?"

"Stargazing?" Yuna realized she had jumped to the wrong conclusion about what Tidus had told Wakka.

Brother became appalled anyway. "I knew it!" He spoke up and pointed an accusing finger in the air. "I knew he was thinking thoughts that he shouldn't have been thinking when he said he was just looking at stars!"

"Did you see the Big Dipper?" Gippal asked with a snicker. Amid light laughter from the few among them who knew of the ancient Earth constellation, the back of his head received a strong thump, and he turned defensively to see who did it. "Oh, Cid. Hey, Cid. Forgot you were ... there."

Cid gave the Machine Faction leader a stern look of warning. "Seems you forgot your manners, too. Need I remind you that Yuna's my niece?"

"It was a joke." Gippal laughed with a shrug, then turned to repeat the same plea with Yuna. "I know Tidus likes stargazing. He's the one that requested the planetarium on the fifth floor of the Zanarkand Library, so you could see that sphere of Earth and its constellations."

Annoyed but not angry, Yuna stepped forward. "For your information, it was Tidus's idea to move Arantisu here. But he's not putting her in his little patch of _stargazing_ grass. She's going to be placed in the ocean below it. She said she loves to swim, and no one will disturb her there if no one else knows where we moved her. She's not safe in the Farplane now that Meimo is free."

"She won't be safe under the eastern cliff, either," Paine interrupted. "That's where that giant squid attacked me."

"A giant squid on _this_ beach?" Gippal was doubtful.

"In the ruins, in a stream of magic, below the eastern cliff," Paine confirmed. "It attacked Meko and me."

"Stream of magic? Sounds like a fiend to me."

"I think so, too. I barely escaped with my life because of the venom on its tentacles. That's means it's going to be tough to kill."

Yuna started to reconsider, but then remained firm in their decision. "Arantisu can't be hurt unless she's in her aeon form, and she's only in her aeon form when I summon her to me. I won't be summoning her until Meimo's been captured. If she's in her spirit form when the tomb is submerged, she should be safe."

"If there's a giant fiend down there, we should get rid of it anyway," Paine advised. "It's a threat to ships and anyone who goes near the water as long as it lurks out there."

Vidina yawned drawing everyone's attention to him, but then the baby reclaimed his thumb and settled his head back onto "Auntie" Yuna's shoulder, content to let the grown-ups worry about such matters.

))((

In the jungle, behind a palm fruit tree, the old man that had spoken to Meko the day before leaned his head back against the rough bark and almost laughed in delight. This was perfect! They would all end up playing right into their hands now. It was even better than if they had planned it this way. And now to hear that the dragon would be moved into the ruins, that Macalania was having problems, and that an Earth sphere existed at the new library, ... that was the icing on the cake. The old man had to stop himself from chuckling aloud at how delicious his revenge was going to be as it all came crashing down on them. "Such gullible idiots," he whispered to himself with a grin and raised a hand to cast a teleportation spell. Once again, Meimo was gone in the blink of an eye without a trace.

))((

Mekoshiko stood on the precipice of Mount Gagazet high above Zanarkand and stared at the hazy ruins before him. Tidus stood behind him in silence, allowing him a few minutes to come to terms with the city's fate. He figured it would be best if Meko's first view of the ruins came from the mountains, just like it had been with him when he first came here three years ago. He knew from experience that the distance would give him time to accept what he was seeing as they moved closer. Only when the stunned, sad expression on the other Zanarkand native's face lessened a little did Tidus clasp a hand to Meko's shoulder and encourage him to continue down the road toward the library on the outskirts of the lost city.

Ronso guardians standing at the large doors greeted Tidus by name before he led Meko inside. There were a few people milling about in the main lobby, but they were mostly scholars who had journeyed the distance to get their hands on the truth of Spira's past, and they couldn't be bothered with the two athletes that just entered the building. Only one man among them looked up and came forward to greet them.

"Tidus." Nooj leaned against his walking cane as he approached. "I'm surprised to see you back so soon. I thought you said you were done with this place and ready to work on building a home in Besaid."

Seeing the tall, half-machina man, Tidus grinned and bowed in quick greeting before shaking his hand. "Well, we had an unexpected visitor. Nooj, this is Mekoshiko. He washed ashore on the beach after a giant squid attacked him, and we've been kinda trying to help him out."

"By coming here?" Nooj pushed the bridge of his glasses up on his nose. He had not changed much over the past year. His long light-brown hair was still swept up and out of his face and partially braided in dreadlocks down his back. His eyes still bore the same harsh realities that his body had experienced, but he now wore the red robes of a governing official - a symbolic indicator that he was trying to put his harrowing days as an ex-Crusader fighting Sin behind him and concentrate on the Youth League's contributions to the shared party leadership in Kilika Port.

"I ... told him we'd just finished working on the library recently, and he wanted to see it." Tidus glanced at Meko and smiled as the two strangers also bowed and shook hands. He reminded himself to be careful about assuming that the other Zanarkand blitzplayer was a real human now, but considering what he had to endure to gain Nooj's acceptance as an illusion, he decided against telling the Youth League leader about Meko's questionable origins.

"Well, let me know if you need any help finding anything. I'm acting as one of the library's receiving administrators right now, so I'll be coming up here from Kilika about once a week, if possible. I'm one of the people that sphere hunters can contact if they have new spheres to donate."

"Cool. What about Psycho Wom - uh, Leblanc?" Tidus prudently corrected himself. "Is she here, too?"

"She's in Kilika having her hair and claws done." Nooj gave Tidus a sardonic smirk, acknowledging his slip of tongue anyway.

"Heh." Tidus wasn't sure whether Nooj meant that as a joke, or sarcasm. "Well, I guess I'd better show Meko around."

Nooj nodded and smiled to himself, enjoying the fact that he could still make Tidus uneasy, as he limped back to his discussion with the scholars.

"Nice guy," Meko commented with a raised brow, noticing the humored tension between them.

"He is," Tidus agreed, though not very confidently. "It just takes him a while to warm up to people - particularly people from a city that no longer exists. Kinda freaks him out a little, if you know what I mean," he lightly warned.

"Understood," Meko cautiously agreed. "I guess we're both sorta like ghosts to them. But, … everyone here knows you're from the past? And they're okay with it?"

Tidus turned his attention to the main lobby and kept his voice low. "A few people knew about it when I first arrived, but most people didn't find out until I was asked to help build the library. Yuna wanted me to help, but Nooj was one of the guys that didn't want anything to do with me." Tidus didn't want to explain why, so he crossed the room and continued to explain the library instead. "One of the Fayth suggested that we put all of the sphere collections in one place, so everyone could learn about Spira's history. There's so much history and technology that people have forgotten. Or in some cases, it was hidden from them on purpose. That's why the spheres in this place are so valuable." Tidus noted that Meko seemed pleased that the building's interior reflected the way that Zanarkand used to be, considering how the city ruins looked now.

Mekoshiko's eyes widened with recognition at the portrait that hung on the wall to the left. "Jecht ..."

"Yeah. And that guy with him - that's Yuna's father. Before he was Sin, my old man was Braska's Final Aeon. That room is dedicated to the summoners and guardians who sacrificed themselves for the Calm. And there's a room dedicated to each region of Spira, as well as a few rooms for common things like ... blitzball." Tidus grinned, perking up a bit, as he played tour guide. "The majority of the first floor is for the Zanarkand room. It covers what happened with the Machina War, so that's where you really need to begin viewing the spheres and reading the books. But this room right here, ... this is the Dream Room. You gotta see this." Tidus eagerly jogged past the rows of shelves holding various spheres to stop in front of a curious-looking control panel in the middle of the room. He touched a few buttons beneath it, and the lights blinked out while something else began to hum with life. A display of a map blinked up before him, and he touched a link to project a life-like holograph around them.

Meko was awed as he found himself standing outside a familiar shop along the waterfront's neon district while dozens of other Zanarkand natives walked right past them, oblivious to their presence. "The Waterwall Cafe … How'd you do this?"

"It's an illusion based on Maester Seymour's memory sphere. It's the biggest memory sphere that we know to exist, and it had tons of information stored in it. We programmed the controls so that this displays outside a couple of times a day, too, so visitors can get an idea of how big Zanarkand used to be." Tidus looked around him at his once-familiar city, proud of their design and this unusual room.

Meko turned a full circle to take in everything that could be seen, then lowered his gaze to the sidewalk that had suddenly appeared beneath his feet. "Maester Seymour?"

"He was a maester of Yevon that we had to fight because he was ..." Tidus stopped himself from saying anything about Seymour's unsent state of being. "Because the Church of Yevon was misusing its power and hiding the truth about Sin."

The two of them walked down the street in the illusionary Zanarkand, reliving what it was like to really be there. "You fought him?"

"We had no choice."

"No choice ... " Meko caught his breath as a holographic woman walked right through them.

"Seymour murdered his own father, Lord Jyscal, to take his position and power. He asked Yuna to marry him for the same reason. Because she was Lord Braska's daughter and a summoner herself, he knew he could use her to summon the Final Aeon and become the next Sin. Letting Seymour become the next Sin would have been much worse than letting my old man continue to wreck havoc against his will. Seymour wanted to rule all of Spira with Sin's power."

Meko paused and faced Tidus. "That's ironic, don't you think? Considering you killed your father, as well."

Leaning on a rail, Tidus shoved his hands into his pockets. "I didn't kill my old man for power. It's like I said – he wanted me to free him from Yu Yevon's possession."

Meko nodded at that repeat explanation, as if still trying to make sense of that incident. "And did Yuna accept Seymour's proposal?"

"She only went through with it to convince him to confess and surrender. But then he tried to kill us because we knew his dirty little secret."

"So, you killed him," Meko guessed the outcome of the fight. "You killed your girlfriend's husband."

Tidus's nose scrunched in disgust. "He wasn't really her husband. He was already dead when she married him, so if anything she's his widow."

Meko quirked a brow in confusion. "Already dead?"

According to Shinra, sending Meko back into the past was impossible. According to Bahamut, Meko being alive in the present was impossible. Tidus decided that perhaps now was as good a time as any to test Yuna's theory on Mekoshiko's true nature. "He was unsent."

The other Zanarkand native's expression pulled in a slight grimace. "Okay. That's gross. But if she married him knowing that, then technically she's still his wife, … right?"

Tidus snorted in amusement. "Wrong. You can't call that a real marriage. He didn't love her. He just wanted to use her. In fact, she ran away with me the night of the wedding after we all escaped."

"People can love beyond death, you know," Meko countered in a sad, quiet tone.

Tidus wasn't sure what was meant by that, so he remained silent.

"How do you know this Seymour wasn't heartbroken to know that Yuna only pretended to love him just for a chance to send him?" He turned his chin just enough to meet Tidus's gaze.

Tidus felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. Those had been Seymour's words to Yuna, almost exactly, after he and the others had been captured trying to crash the wedding to rescue her. "Who are you?" he asked, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

Meko smirked at the defensive change in Tidus's demeanor. "She betrayed her husband by running off with you. What makes you think she won't treat you the same way?"

"Yuna loves me," Tidus defiantly answered.

"Oh, I have no doubt of that. Women have always had a tendency to dote on your every move, but behavior patterns are hard to break. If someone betrays you once, chances are she, … or he, ... will do it again." Meko shook his head in amusement. "Because this isn't the first time you stole someone else's fiancée, is it? I saw the headlines after that scandal with the singer. 'Jecht Junior Has Affair with Pop Star; Boyfriend Mysteriously Drowns!'" Meko chuckled, but then shrugged it off as if it were nothing. "Not as funny as some of your other headlines because you almost got accused of murder that time, but in the end, as usual, your charm prevailed and they found you innocent."

Speechless against Meko's accusations, Tidus stared at the blue-haired, blue-eyed young man before him. Within his shared soul, Shuyin's memories were triggered and thrown back to an unfortunate accident in which a friend was killed after a fight over a girl.

"What ever happened to Lenne, anyway? Did she survive the Machina War?" Meko asked.

Tidus was suddenly overwhelmed with Shuyin's shame over his failure to protect the woman he loved. "She was taken captive in Bevelle and executed while trying to escape," he quietly admitted.

"Executed ..." Meko was devastated for a long moment. "No ..." He shook his head and lowered his gaze to the sidewalk once more, as if having a hard time even imagining it.

Tidus moved forward with caution and bent slightly to see beneath the long blue hair that swallowed the other young man's features. Almost instinctively, he envisioned those ice-blue eyes being hazel-colored instead. "_Koji_?"

The other Zanarkand native wiped away a silent tear and lifted his chin in bitter response to that name.

Though Tidus had never met him, he suddenly knew beyond all doubt that he was standing face to face with Shuyin's unsent childhood friend.


	11. Chapter 11: Second Chance

Chapter 11: Second Chance

Still saddened by the news of Lenne's execution, the blue-haired blitzball player met Tidus's gaze with accusation. "So, … you do remember me."

Tidus returned to the control panel of the Dream Room and snapped it off. The Zanarkand illusion disappeared, the hum of the holographic machina died down, and the lights came back on. It was just the two of them in an otherwise completely empty room once more, so he could see Mekoshiko more clearly. Had Shuyin's spirit not rescued Tidus from captivity last year by possessing him, he might never have been able to touch Shuyin's memories. But had Shuyin not rescued him from the leaders of the Echo Alliance, Tidus might have been left in the Via Infinito to dissolve into nothing. However risky it had been, allowing Shuyin to take control had saved Tidus's life. But now, he didn't know what to say as unprocessed memories from the past came rushing into the present. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, buried in his subconscious from his past life over a thousand years ago, Tidus remembered Koji. "You look ... different," he managed to say when he finally found his voice again.

Koji moved closer to Tidus and stopped in front of him. "So do you."

"What happened to your hair and eyes?"

"Magical disguise."

"You said you were part guado."

"It's a half-guado disguise. That _is _the whole idea behind disguises, you know. You're supposed to look like something you're not."

"And the name change?"

"Still part of the disguise, Sherlock."

Tidus considered some of the other things Mekoshiko had told them since his arrival. "You lied to us."

"What was I supposed to say? 'Hey, remember me? I was your best friend, but you stole my girl and I'm dead now because of it. Nice to see you again.' Yeah, that would have gone over well." Koji waved it off with a snort of cynical amusement and moved away to sit down on the floor. "Yuna would have been trying to send me, rather than trying to save me."

Tidus stayed behind the holographic control panel as he studied the other blitzball player. "Yuna ... only wants to help. That's all she ever wants." Finding the right words to say felt awkward.

"Well, at least I'm not the only one who's been dishonest about who I used to be, right? _Shuyin_?"

Tidus frowned. "I'm not Shuyin."

"No, you're not, are you." Koji agreed, matching his tone and expression. "You're just some kind of magic trick meant to look like him – some kind of hologram, or something. But you never went to the _real_ Waterwall Cafe or played on the _real_ Abes team. You can't even be Jecht's real son because you're not really _real_."

Tidus was rendered speechless. How could he have known?

Koji grew quiet as he turned his attention to the plain, carpeted floor that was no longer part of the Zanarkand illusion. "Lulu told me," he answered the unspoken question. "She didn't do it to betray you, though. It just kind of slipped out. Then the rest of your friends tried to let me down gently by hinting that I might be an illusion, too."

Tidus suddenly felt inexplicably anxious. "Yuna suspected you were unsent and asked me to find out why you came here. I guess that's obvious now, but killing me won't avenge what happened between you and Shuyin. He's already dead and sent. I hold his memories, … but I'm not him."

"I know," Koji softly agreed. "But in spite of how it looks, I didn't come here to antagonize you about him." He looked up and saw that Tidus was still keeping a cautious distance, but at least he was listening. "Shuyin was like a brother to me. We met at swim lessons when we were very young, and he was afraid of the water, but Jecht was pretty stubborn about curing him of that fear." Koji smirked in light amusement as he remembered their first meeting, but the smirk slowly faded. "Jecht was probably the best blitz player Spira's ever known, but as a father he was sometimes … harsh. He never supported Shuyin's efforts, so Shuyin spent most of his time training with me, instead. I made more goals than he did, but he had more style … and charisma. I made better grades and didn't get in trouble the way he did. But between the two of us, he got all the attention and lucky breaks. People adored him because he was Jecht's son. After a while, I began to feel like a nobody. So, when we both had an eye for the same girl in high school, I tricked him into going out with my sister so that I could go out with the girl he wanted to date. He never forgave me for it, … but he didn't learn anything from it either. Later, when I finally met the girl of my dreams, just when I was about to ask Lenne to marry me, I found out he'd been seeing her behind my back. After that, I felt like no matter how hard I tried to succeed, Jecht Jr. and his charming smile would always steal the prize. There was no way to win against him, so I just wanted him to … disappear." He lowered his gaze and shifted his seated position to place his palms on the floor behind him. "We had a fight. I had a gun, but he jumped overboard to get away. I followed him, but then this giant squid came out of nowhere. No matter how hard I fought, I couldn't get away. And in spite of all those years of blitzball training, there just wasn't enough air ..." He stared at his fist for a moment, squeezing something only he could see as he remembered what it felt like to be crushed in the grip of the water fiend. "Shuyin saw what was happening, but he swam away. I know it's my own fault for attacking him and following him into the water, but ... he didn't even look back." Koji lowered his fist and met Tidus's gaze. "But I suppose you know all this, if you have his memories."

Tidus felt a surge of guilt from the tragedy. "Shuyin didn't leave you to die. He left because he knew he couldn't save you. That fiend was too big, so he had no choice but to try to save himself. But he always felt responsible for your death. Just like he felt responsible for the death of his mother and father, … and Lenne."

Koji lifted his chin with skepticism. "He … told you this?"

"Well, no. He's never really talked about his life in that kind of detail. But I summoned his spirit once, and he possessed me, so now I have this freak connection to his memories. And I lived through some of the same experiences he did in Dream Zanarkand. Not _that_ one because I never met you in my alternate world for some reason, but … I know how he felt about things like that."

Koji sighed as he leaned back, palms on the floor behind him again. "I hated him so much for swimming away and just leaving me there. For the longest time I wanted nothing but revenge, but I didn't want to confront him because I was afraid I'd find him living happily ever after with Lenne. So I stayed in the ocean beneath the Zanarkand docks where I drowned. Then one day, there were all these explosions ripping through the water from above the surface," he continued. "I went to see what was going on and saw Bevelle attacking Zanarkand. The whole city come crashing down into the water. Entire buildings sank to the bottom of the sea." Koji paused in his confession for a moment and looked to Tidus with genuine regret. "I had no idea Lenne had been captured and executed."

Tidus realized that part of Mekoshiko's ignorance had not been faked. "They both were. That's how Shuyin died, too, trying to help her escape."

Koji seemed both surprised and ashamed to hear about Shuyin's fate. "I figured they would both eventually go to the Farplane one way or another, but I didn't want to see them together there, either," he darkly admitted, before continuing his tale. "So, I sank back under the waves without waiting to see the outcome of the war. I just wanted to be left alone, but … that was Zanarkand's end, ... wasn't it. All this time it's been just as dead above the surface as it seemed to be below it. The world changed without me even noticing it."

Still cautious, Tidus sat down on the floor and faced Koji in the same cross-legged manner in which he sat. To be sitting opposite him like that felt oddly familiar, reminding him of chats Shuyin had with Koji when they were children. "Why surface now … after all these years?"

The unsent blitzball player lifted his chin. "I overheard a conversation between two people seeking spheres in the underwater ruins. They were talking about a new library being built in Zanarkand and said there was a blitzball player on the crew. The way they talked, it sounded like Shu, but I thought, 'Nah, couldn't be.' So, I surfaced to watch the opening ceremonies." He shook his head. "I was absolutely gobsmacked seeing the ruins above the water for the first time ... Then seeing Shuyin up on stage ... How could he be alive after all this time? I mingled with the crowd to ask questions, and that's when I found out you weren't Shuyin. I found out you lived in Besaid and was on the last leg of my swim when that giant squid attacked me." Koji dropped his tale for a moment to allow himself to become incredibly annoyed. "Can you believe it? It's not enough to be killed by one of those damned things once already, so another one had to attack me before I could reach the shore! Do you know how hard it is to create any semblance of a body once you've lost it? If you guys hadn't found me in time, I would have had to start collecting pyreflies all over again."

Tidus was unexpectedly amused at the familiar tone and expression in Koji's complaint. "Why did you come all the way to Besaid if you knew I wasn't Shuyin?"

Koji shrugged in a helpless manner. "I guess I just had to see for myself if you were anything like him."

"And your verdict?"

"I've come to the conclusion that you're not him, but you're a lot more like him than you think."

Not knowing whether to take that as an insult or compliment, Tidus tried to find the humor in it. "You mean because you were able to sabotage my sphere shot just like that time you stole the ball from Shuyin when he was trying to learn it on the playground at school?"

Koji responded to the random memory with an appreciative laugh. "Nah, Shuyin would have kicked my ass for doing that to him twice."

Tidus snorted at the implication that he was somehow less threatening. "Then, you thought I was joking about having the dragon flatten you like a hotcake?"

Koji laughed again and nodded in appreciative agreement. "Ah, even in death, I envy you, man. You're probably the only other person on Spira who can understand what it's like being stuck in a _half-life_ like this, but you're lucky to live as an illusion among friends, rather than clinging to life as a solitary, unsent spirit."

Words Tidus thought he would never hear - someone wishing to be an illusion like him. He was quiet for a moment as he considered his own truth and supposed Koji had a valid point about unsent being worse.

"What you've got going on … it's almost like Shuyin's been given a second chance at life."

Tidus shook his head in disagreement. "I was summoned from a dream that doesn't exist anymore, so I can't really call what I have 'life'. It's like you said, I'm not real."

Koji rose on his knees and leaned forward, lowering his voice. "Would you like to be?"

Tidus drew back and quirked a brow as if Koji had lost his mind. "What do you mean?"

"Remember what Yuna and Shinra were talking about at Rin's? Maybe sending me back in time isn't an option, but they were talking about reconstructing the past and Yevon learning his summoning magic from Maedra. I think they were onto something. I think Yevon must have learned how to create aeons based on something Maedra left behind. And I think if we could find out how aeons are created, maybe a summoner could use the same kind of magic to create second lives for people like us."

Tidus's brows rose, but then he shook his head and waved his hands to clear his thoughts on the notion. "Woah, woah, woah. Are you crazy? I don't want to become an aeon. And I'm not Shuyin. I don't want to come back to life as him. In fact, since I haven't died yet, I don't think I _can_ be brought back to life. Shuyin and me, … we're two different people, and this is as good as it gets for me."

"But what if it isn't?" Koji asked with growing excitement. "Think about it for a minute! Yevon created the aeons because he wanted powerful monsters that could help defend Zanarkand. But powerful aeons would be much harder to create than ordinary people like you or me, don't you think? That means there _might _be an underlying spell that could make ordinary souls real."

Tidus blinked at Koji in disbelief for the wild idea, yet his mind began to soar with possibilities.

))((

When Meimo teleported back to the Via Infinito and called for Seymour this time, he was well armed with his full magical strength, but considering the nature of the place and the fiends, he was still very jumpy about having to meet at this location. As soon as Seymour's body emerged from the pyreflies that freely floated within the gloomy depths of the sterile, maze-like halls, Meimo repeated to him everything he had overheard Yuna and her friends discussing. "Don't you see?" he eagerly added when he was finished relating his tale. "It's a windfall! If Spira's aeon -"

"Sssh." Seymour frowned. "She's down here, you know," he warned in a calm, soft voice. "She might hear you."

Meimo lowered his voice to a whisper, but his excitement remained high, as he nervously cast a glance into the shadows around them . "If Spira's aeon can be summoned into solid form once more, those maps are as good as mine again. And if the sphere on the fifth floor of the library is what I think it is, between the two of them, finding Earth should be a piece of cake."

"I don't care about Earth. You know what I want."

The dead summoner's superior yet calm air of command annoyed Meimo to no end sometimes. "Without me what you want will _never_ become a reality."

"Is that a threat?" Seymour asked, taking a couple of steps closer to the living summoner.

Had the deceased maester's form been more solid, his layers of heavy robes would have swished with unnerving ease in each stride, but as it was, his pyreflies were so thin that he moved as if floating on air - even more unnerving. Meimo felt a chill rise over his body as the spirit stopped directly before him, but he stood his ground. "It is a reminder that you are stuck here, powerless to accomplish what you wish on your own. We need each other if any of us are to get what we want." He graciously backed out of a potentially deadly disagreement.

"I may be stuck within the plane of magic, Meimo, but I am hardly powerless," Seymour reminded him. "It would be wise of you to remember that."

"All I'm saying, is that if our first plan works, taking Spira back to Earth will give you an even larger and more technologically advanced domain. Think of it, Lord Seymour - not just Spira, but also Spira's creators! Wouldn't it be the sweetest revenge to use the sphere to take Spira back to Earth and make Yuna and Tidus watch as you deliver a thousand years worth of justice to those who dared to destroy us because we allowed the guado and their Farplane magic to exist on this ship?" Meimo's sharp green eyes lit up beneath the wrinkled pads that surrounded them. "We could not only reclaim our rights to our home world, we could rule the entire planet - a real planet, not some artificial contraption designed to look like one."

"And what do the others say to this extended plan of yours?"

"I haven't told them yet. But I'm sure they will be exceptionally pleased." Meimo waved a hand and dissolved his illusion, straightening into the tall, slender, younger man that he actually was. His walking cane turned into a summoner's rod, and his straw hat turned into long sand-colored hair.

"And how do you plan to go about getting these maps and this sphere?"

"I will have a chat with my colleagues, and then I won't have to lift a finger. Instead, I will go to Macalania." Meimo grinned at Seymour's unimpressed expression. "Macalania is having some problems with fiends beneath the spring - or a blocked magic stream, or some other such thing. It doesn't really matter what's causing the problem. Sometimes one must sacrifice his queen in order to 'be' king."

Seymour was pensive for a moment as he stared skeptically at the mortal summoner who continued to disturb his haunting grounds. His ice blue eyes bore into the confident young man as if he could see right through him. "Very well," he gave in. "Just remember a pawn is a more suitable loss."

"Oh, I'm afraid only the queen will do for this game, my lord," Meimo answered with a grim expression. "If I can draw the streams of the Farplane back into Macalania, I will need you to meet me there, ... and bring the faithful captain of our ship with you."

Seymour chuckled softly. "Captain Spira? She won't leave this place. It is her painstaking effort to keep the dead parts of this ship alive that binds her here."

"Well then, ... I guess we'll have to prick her conscience about something more important than the ship."

))((

Leaving the Dream Room with Koji, Tidus looked around the library lobby for Nooj, who happened to be in conversation with several scholars. Not wanting to interrupt, the blitzball player was content to take up a position beside him, whistling a tune to himself as he waited for the meyven's attention.

Nooj tried to ignore the noise at his elbow, but when it became obvious that the whistling was only getting louder, the meyven sighed, turned his chin toward the athlete, and cocked a brow of impatience at him. "What do you want, Tidus?"

"Who me? Oh, I don't mean to interrupt or anything," he apologized with a nod to the scholars.

"Of course you don't," Nooj droned, still waiting for the excuse.

"I just wanted to ask a favor about something ... kinda private."

"Excuse me a moment," Nooj told the scholars and before leading the two blitzball players to the far corner of the room. "You're very annoying. You know that?"

"You said to let you know if we needed help finding anything."

Nooj planted his cane in front of him, folded his hands over it, and waited for the bomb to drop.

Tidus glanced to the other Zanarkand native as if needing help, but he knew Koji didn't stand a chance at talking Nooj into this scheme. "Before Yevon came along, the only other person known to do summoning magic was the first guado that came to Spira."

Nooj's brows rose at the highly unusual request. "And Captain Spira herself," he added.

"Well, yeah, whatever," Tidus brushed off that minor correction. "The point is that no one in Zanarkand knew anything about summoning until Yevon started teaching it. So, it kinda makes you wonder how he learned about it, doesn't it? Do you think maybe Yevon found some kind of magic tutorial sphere that used to belong to Maedra? Would you know if anything like that exists?"

"No, but it would be a seriously hefty discovery if it did." Nooj lifted a hand to his chin and rubbed it thoughtfully for a moment.

Tidus nodded with disappointment. "I expected as much, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask."

Nooj's brows knit forming a small bump above the bridge of his glasses. "Why would something like that interest_ you_? You're not a summoner."

Tidus gave a small shrug. "I was just curious if there was any recorded information about how the dream was created, … how I was … created."

"Mh. Well, you could always search for spheres on that subject yourself, you know. The Gullwings _are_ sphere hunters."

"Oh yeah!" Tidus scratched his head. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because clones can't think for themselves? Just like they can't hit hard enough to dent aluminum foil," Nooj taunted with a smooth, dry smirk as he raised his machina hand to adjust his glasses.

Tidus smiled at the meyven's dark humor regarding a fight they had in the aftermath of Shuyin's possession – the one in which the blitzball player found out that punching a fist into a half-machina body results in great pain but little damage. "Soooo, you think you could run a search of the current archives to see if any spheres like that exist?"

"I'll talk to Baralai and get back to you," he promised before walking away. "If something like that _does_ exist, we need to know about it so that no one can hide it or hoard it," he added without looking back.

Tidus turned to Koji and sighed in a rather upbeat manner. "Well, I guess that's all we can do for now. Want to see the rest of the library anyway?"

"Sure. Hey, what's the first thing you would do if you could be real?" Koji asked him as he followed back toward the library's Zanarkand room.

Tidus gave the question a little thought and then smiled to himself. "I'd want to see what kissing Yuna really feels like." He gave him a wry wink.

Koji laughed lightly and shook his head. "I knew you would say something like that. By the way, um, is Rikku seeing anyone?"

Tidus shot a look of disbelief over his shoulder and ended up walking right into the door frame because of the surprise question. "_Rikku?_" He rubbed his bruised shoulder. "If you can handle it, she's all yours. 'Course she might not be into _dead_ guys."

"You had to rub it in, didn't you?" Koji flatly returned.

"And she blushes and giggles a lot around Baralai, so you might have some competition there."

Koji snorted. "Competition from a _priest_? You're kidding, right?"

"After my old man disappeared and my mom died, a warrior monk named Auron raised me."

"You mean … in your alternate Zanarkand, right?"

"_Never_ underestimate a man from the temple. Especially one that drinks nog and doesn't shave his head."

That made no sense to Koji, but he nodded in bewildered acceptance of that advice.

))((

By the time Tidus and Koji contacted Buddy with a request to be teleported back into the airship it was nightfall, and the Gullwings crew and their friends were enjoying a bonfire on the beach.

"Man, am I glad to see that!" Tidus jogged to the fire and bent over the low flames to see what kind of food was available, which appeared to be ... nothing. "What! You guys already ate and didn't leave anything for us?"

"Chill out. We saved you some grub right here." Rikku passed him the small cooler and basket of cooking supplies, but then sat back in her low-swung beach chair. "We gave the hypello the evening off. Everyone took a swim to cool off after a long day of work, so this seemed like the natural thing to do for dinner."

Tidus opened the cooler and grinned at the assortment of leftovers.

Koji leaned over his shoulder to see the selection as well and poked a finger toward one of the loaded skewers. "Ooh. Is that -"

"Stop being grabby." Tidus shut the lid on his hand.

"What do you mean _grabby_? If I don't get what I want first, you'll eat all the chicken and leave me with nothing but fish," Koji complained, as if he'd known him for a lifetime.

Tidus giggled, amused that he knew him so well. "Well, if you don't want the fish, maybe I should eat all that, too."

"Oh. So, it's gonna be like that, is it?" With a mischievous glint in his eye, Koji left Tidus's side to meet Yuna halfway as she was coming to greet them. He whispered something in her ear, and she nodded in agreement with a small laugh.

Tidus lifted a brow as he watched the short, but overt, exchange. "What was _that_ all about?" he questioned as she came near.

Without a word, Yuna slipped her hand behind his neck to pull him down a little closer to her level and gave him a long, drawn-out, over-done, marathon kiss.

Passing by, Wakka paused and leaned close to their faces. "Get a _room_, Yuna."

Without breaking away from the kiss, Tidus opened his free hand over Wakka's face and pushed him away. Then, he wrapped an arm around Yuna's neck to draw her closer in defiance.

Wakka laughed with everyone else at his little buddy's no-nonsense way of handling the intrusion and continued on his way to light the bamboo torches around the open area of the beach.

Brother was the only one who didn't find it funny. Instead, he gasped and moaned, then buried his face in his hands. "Ah! I cannot watch! If he does not let her breathe soon, she will drown in his spit!" he lamented.

Still chuckling, Gippal slowly shifted his attention toward Brother and the toothpick between his lips shifted to follow. "I'm sure he'll get a clue that she needs air once she starts turning blue."

Paine smirked at the retort. "Brother's still waiting for the day that Tidus fades away so Yuna can return to him."

"Return to him_?_" Gippal asked with humored doubt. "_Return?_"

With Tidus so easily distracted, Koji lifted the ice chest from Tidus's other hand. "I owe you one, Yuna." Settling near the fire, he began draping his uncooked leftovers on the grill.

As soon as Tidus realized the kiss was a conspiracy, he broke it off and gave Koji look of disgust. "Cheater."

"Don't even go there, man," Koji warned, chuckling victoriously to himself. "Don't get me started on your history in that department."

Yuna snickered at Tidus's gullibility and tried to look innocent as she pulled the two necklace charms he wore from beneath the neckline of his T-shirt. "Well, I couldn't say no to Mekoshiko's suggestion, could I?"

Tidus immediately looked to Koji wondering what they should do about his false identity. He was torn whether to keep up the lie or tell the truth, and Koji only mirrored his doubt. The problem was, he wasn't sure how to explain the truth about what happened between Shuyin and Koji to everyone else.

"We got a lot of work done on your hut today," Yuna coyly informed him.

"Yeah?" He grinned, thankful for the change in topic. "What'd you do?"

"Can't tell you. It's a secret." She grinned back at him, knowing that would drive him crazy.

"What secret? It's _my_ house." He faced Shinra, but the boy only smiled in response. "You can't rewire my house and not tell me what you're doing to it. I'll walk up there and take a look myself."

"No, you won't," Yuna protested. "If you need anything in town, we'll get it for you."

"Oh, come on. You can't be serious. You're not going to let me go to the village?"

Buddy sat in the sand next to Gippal and Paine. "It's just for a few days."

"And don't you try sneaking peeks, either," Cid warned. "We got spies all over the place that will tattle for a piece of candy in a heartbeat if you step one foot in that village before your house is done."

"Saaaa!" Wakka called with a grin as he came back to the bonfire area and pushed Tidus aside in the same manner which he had been pushed. "Who's up for a game of blitzball?"

Tidus laughed and dodged the large hand as it came toward his face, but he couldn't completely escape it. "I'm game, but I haven't had a chance to eat yet."

"Well, then hurry up and eat! We ain't got all night, ya?" Wakka sat down next to Lulu.

"Kinda hard to do when someone stole all the food," he gave Koji a mild scowl. "I'll go get a ball." Tidus turned and jogged back into the airship to collect a blitzball from a chest full of them in the engine room. He started to run back out, but then snickered to himself and grabbed a permanent pen from a nearby clipboard. Jogging back to the bonfire, he sat down in the cool sand, propped the blitzball in his lap, and uncapped the pen to begin doodling.

"I'll play one game, but then I need to head back to Bevelle before it's too late." Gippal finished his drink and set it solidly in the sand. "Hey, who all's going with us to Macalania?"

"I'll go," Paine volunteered with a small wave of her hand. "I don't have anything better to do."

"Aw, I was thinking we should go squid fishing off the coast tomorrow," Cid answered, disappointed. "A couple of blasts from the Celsius ought to do it!"

Koji looked up with surprise. "Squid? You mean the one that attacked me? You don't need to risk yourselves to kill it. I'm okay now."

"Pop, don't you think blasting it with the airship's guns would be a teensy-weensy bit much?" Rikku pinched her fingers close together.

"She's right," Koji agreed. "You could risk damaging more than the squid shooting at it with something that big. The fishing huts are there, and so are the boats and docks."

"Or you could create a tsunami or something," Rikku added.

"Well, it'd be _dead_ wouldn't it?" Cid grumped, unhappy that no one else liked his plan.

"Heh." Koji winced slightly and looked to Tidus, as if asking how people so zealous to kill a fiend would ever accept him if they knew he was unsent.

Tidus only snickered and continued doodling on the blitzball.

Finally, Koji became curious enough that he rose and stood before him. "What are you doing?"

"Decorating the ball for luck."

Rikku drew near to see it, and so did Yuna. "What are you decorating it with?" she asked.

Tidus capped the pen and held up the ball to show off his artwork. After a moment of puzzled expressions, he became insulted. "It's a squid."

Koji chuckled and shook his head. "Dude. That is so _not_ a squid."

"What are you talking about? It's _obviously_ a squid." Tidus held it up for Yuna's approval.

Yuna folded her hands over her mouth to hide a laugh.

"You people have no taste for talent." Tidus pitched the ball at Paine then clipped the pen to the neck of his T-shirt.

Paine caught the ball, turned it to see the doodle better, but laughed as well. "Is this supposed to be scary? How does that translate into luck?" She showed it to Gippal, Shinra, Buddy, and Lulu who were equally amused.

"It's to curse you from trying any Jecht Shots on us in the game."

She made a face and pitched the ball back at him, hitting him in the shoulder. Tidus snatched it up and ran toward her as if he was going to slam her with it, but Koji nonchalantly stuck out his foot. Tidus sprawled in the sand at his feet, instead, drawing laughter from everyone in their circle.

Tidus laughed as he pitched the ball at Koji's legs in retaliation. "You are so dead in that game."

Koji laughed as he jumped and avoided the hit. Then, he turned his attention to the food on the grill, dividing the skewered strips of chicken and grilled fish between himself and Tidus. "Anyone want more?" he offered one final time around the circle.

"Um, ... is that chicken?" Rikku asked in a small voice and raised her hand with a sweet smile.

Koji sighed and gave his only slice of chicken to the small thief, then sat down beside Tidus to look at the blackened fish that seemed to stare back at him in open-mouthed shock from its position on the skewer. "Shut up," he warned as Tidus opened his mouth to tease him about giving in to Rikku's request.

Paine recovered the blitzball and sat back down, greatly amused at the stupid-looking squid.

"By the way, does anyone know if the village shop carries dispel potions?" Koji asked.

"Probably not," Lulu answered. She was helping Vidina build a sand castle near her feet, but the little boy squealed and mashed it flat as soon as it gained any kind of height. "Yuna could probably dispel an effect for free, though. What do you need dispelled?"

"Just want to remove some hair color."

"I thought you said that was guado," Wakka remembered.

"Guado magic," Koji clarified, uncomfortably. "I'll see if they have any dispel potions in the village shop after we eat."

Tidus glanced at him with a knowing look, but said nothing as he took another bite out of his fish on a stick.

Yuna huddled close to Tidus and placed her bare feet on his thigh as she curled into a ball against his shoulder and arm. "My toes are cold," she lightly complained with an impish smile as she watched him eat.

"You're getting sand up my shorts," he complained over his mouthful.

She pinched off a portion of his fish to sample. "But I'm snuggling to make up for it."

Tidus chuckled at her lame excuse. "That's not snuggling. That's snarfing my food and getting sand up my shorts."

Yuna giggled and licked her fingers. "So, how did it go today at the library?"

"Good! It went good, but, um, ... " He lowered his voice so that only she could hear him. "We need to talk, … to everyone."

Yuna didn't seem to know what to make of that answer. His tone indicated bad news, even though he was in a very good mood.

Tidus slipped his hand into hers in a reassuring manner, so she closed her fingers around his. When he was done eating, he licked his fingers, stood, and led her to the bonfire where he dropped the remains of his meal into the flames. Then, they walked to Koji's side, where Tidus crouched behind Koji's shoulder. "We gotta tell them the truth."

"I know," Koji softly agreed.

Tidus straightened and cleared his throat to speak, even though he had no idea what he was going to say.

"No, no," Koji interrupted, standing and dropping the remains of his food in the bonfire, as well. "Thanks, but … I should be the one to tell them." Koji turned, toes deep in the sand, and crouched as he faced all of Tidus's friends. "Everyone, I have something I need to say." He waited until he had everyone's attention before continuing. "I … haven't told the whole truth about who I am. My real name is Koji."

Rikku pouted. "Does that mean I can't call you Mekochikochi anymore?"

Koji smiled enjoying the last bit of attention he was sure he would receive from her. "You can call me whatever you wish."

Rikku grinned. "Well, I suppose Kojiko-kochi sounds just as good. But, ... why didn't you just tell us your real name in the first place?"

"Because I didn't want Tidus to recognize me. I used to be a close friend of Shuyin's back in Zanarkand. And I'm here now because I'm … unsent."

Tidus sympathized with the courage it took to confess that and looked to Yuna to gauge her reaction. She didn't seem surprised, but she did seem concerned.

Koji waited for the politely masked expressions of surprise to pass before forcing himself to continue. "I'm sorry I lied to you, but I wanted the chance to speak to Tidus alone before saying anything about that." He glanced to Yuna in an anxious manner. The threat of being sent didn't need to be spoken. "Anyway, I can't blame you for being angry, but … I'm sorry." He bowed low before them and braced himself for their responses.

"O-kaaaay." Gippal chewed his toothpick for a moment, then turned to Yuna. "If you keep associating with pyreflies instead of people, you might want to start bringing a spare jar to these bonfires. Pyreflies make good little lanterns as long as you punch holes in the lid so they can breathe."

"Ah-ha-ha - not funny," Tidus retorted and smacked the back of Gippal's head.

Paine and Rikku both gave Gippal's shoulders a small punch for being rude, which he then acted like he didn't deserve.

Yuna gave Tidus a small nod of gratitude for him getting to the heart of the matter concerning Meko's nature. Then, she released his hand to kneel before Koji and encouraged him to look up at her. "I won't send you against your will unless it becomes necessary," she assured him. "I know you must have come to us for a reason."

"Thank you, Yuna." Koji sat back on his heels.

"Have you come to Tidus looking for Shuyin?"

"That was my original purpose in coming here, yes, but … now I understand what's happened to him." Koji was hesitant to be honest, but his entire voyage would be worth nothing if he didn't speak now. "Actually, I'm looking for something else now. I would like to hire the Gullwings to find a sphere for me - one that I believe exists, even though I have no evidence of it."

Rikku crawled on her hands and knees to study Koji more closely. It was clear that she didn't know what to think of him now, but after a moment a slow, forgiving smile returned to her lips. "That's not a problem. We're really good at hunting spheres."

Lulu, on the other hand, was highly suspicious. "The library has all kinds of spheres. Did you look there to see if they have what you need?"

"We did ask for help from someone who works there, but something that old … It may not even be a sphere at all," Koji explained. "It might be a book. But I believe there must be some kind of documentation out there that Yevon studied to learn the art of summoning." The unsent spirit turned to face Yuna. "If we were to find such a thing, do you think …" He hesitated to ask. "Would it be possible for someone like yourself to learn how to create aeons?"

Yuna drew back, immediately connecting his request with their conversation at Rin's Travel Agency yesterday. The request clearly made her uneasy. "Meko – I mean, Koji," she quickly corrected herself. It would take a little time to associate the new name with his face. "Even if we had the instructions for creating aeons, I don't think I'm strong enough to do that kind of magic. And ... I'm not even sure I should if I could. Why would you want something like that?"

Tidus lifted her hand and held it between his own as he moved to stand before her. "To see if it's possible ... to make me real."


	12. Chapter 12: 4 Years But Who's Counting

Chapter 12: Four Years, but Who's Counting

The Gullwings and their friends listened with intrigued skepticism - some more intrigued or skeptical than others – as Tidus and Koji explained the theory regarding Yevon's original knowledge of aeon creation and how they thought it might relate to their particular situations. But in the end, it was still a request, and Koji and Tidus looked mainly to Yuna for their answer.

"I ... I think ... I'll have to take some time to think about it," she told them with uncertainty.

Koji nodded in disappointment. "Understood. I … respect your doubts."

Tidus moved to stand before her. "Even if you decide you'd rather not attempt the spell, would you at least be willing to look for Yevon's documents on magic?"

Yuna's brows rose with worry. "Documents like that … probably shouldn't be found. To bring the dead back to life," she whispered, not wanting to offend Koji. "It's not summoning magic anymore, Tidus. It's necromancy."

His eyes narrowed slightly in confusion. "What's the difference? Either way you're calling a spirit back from the dead. Every time you summoned one of the Fayth, you were summoning the dead back to life. Every time you healed Auron you kept him from the Farplane. Considering Spira tends to have serious issues with spirits hanging around after death anyway, documents like that might help."

Yuna pulled him aside to speak privately and kept her voice low to avoid being overheard. "I didn't know Auron was unsent until the end. The Fayth voluntarily sacrificed themselves, and I was not their creator. It's the difference between accepting a gift meant to turn tragedy into hope, and experimenting with the laws of nature and the sanctity of human life. For students of white magic and the summoning arts, it's _very_ important not to cross over that boundary between using magic to help people who need it, and using it to sustain life beyond what is ..." Yuna paused.

She was going to say, _beyond what is natural, _but as she looked into his eyes, she began to wonder where that line was really drawn. If she healed a person who would otherwise die, wasn't she sustaining life beyond what was natural? She had healed herself and her friends too many times to count, including Auron. Based on what she was taught, she should have sent him as soon as she found out he was unsent. But she justified ignoring those teachings because of his reason in returning. Perhaps the true irony of the situation, however, was that half the temple that ordained those teachings turned out to be unsent. It was difficult to compare someone like Auron with someone like Maester Seymour. Besides that, she had healed Tidus many times, and he wasn't natural to begin with. He wasn't even a ghost, really. In a sense, he was more like some kind of Frankenstien's monster, pieced together from bits of a dead man's life and soul and bound with magic for the sole purpose of being sacrificed. And even though he eventually learned it would mean his own end, he still did what was necessary to save their world. If anyone deserved a real life, … it was Tidus. Yuna lowered her gaze, touched her fingers to her lips, as reconsidered exactly what the difference was between life and death as they knew it on Spira.

Tidus couldn't read her thoughts, but he could read the lost look in her eyes and gave her arms a sympathetic caress. "Yuna, ... please."

Yuna had to look beyond the sadness in his eyes and the softness of his touch to remind herself that Yevon had been a terrible foe, revered as a god _because_ he had the power to create, manipulate, and destroy life. And yet Tidus was, indirectly, one of Yevon's creations. The summoner finally nodded in surrender.

Tidus sighed with relief and drew her close for a hug. Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed the top of her head and rested his cheek on her. "Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me."

Yuna tried to feel happy for him, but doubts continued to burn in the back of her mind.

"We'll do it!" Rikku announced, interpreting the couple's embrace to mean that Yuna had agreed to Koji's request. She turned to face the rest of the Gullwings with a grin. "Our next mission is to find Yevon's sphere!"

The Gullwings crew clapped and cheered, ready to face such an interesting, new challenge.

After a moment, Tidus released Yuna from his arms, but still held her hand, as he turned to face his friends. "Thank you, … all of you. I know it may be one of the hardest sphere hunts you've ever faced because we don't have anything to start from, and it's going to be really ancient, but ..."

"Well, we kinda owe you one," Rikku answered with sincerity and a small smile. "None of us would be here today, if it weren't for you. And I think it would be great if you could be real." The small thief pushed herself to stand and gave him a hug.

Yuna sighed and smiled knowing this was why Tidus tolerated all their pranks and teasing. Their friends, ... they were family to him.

Wakka sniffled and stood. "Alright, alright, before you _girls_ get all emotional about the idea of making him real, I say we play as hard as we worked, ya? Let's finish this day with some blitzball!" He gave an enthusiastic clap.

Tidus smirked at Wakka as he walked past him to get the ball. "Yeah. We wouldn't want you to get emotional about it, or anything."

Paine pulled the squid ball away from him as he reached for it. "New rule - you and Koji are not allowed to be on the same team."

"What?"

"You and Wakka are never allowed to be on the same team because two professionals on the same team wouldn't be a fair and balanced game." A gust of night wind blew her silver hair into her eyes, but she whisked it out of her way to stay focused on him. "So, the same rule has to apply to you and Koji."

"Actually, I'm never on the same team as Wakka so I can kick his butt," Tidus bluntly admitted.

"Ya, you come over here and say that, … brat," Wakka challenged, folding his arms at his chest.

Koji chuckled. "It's okay. I'll bow out this time. I need to go get that dispel potion from the village before the shop closes."

"You can't go to the village _now_," Tidus argued with a mischievous giggle. "This is your chance to show off that offensive tackle you talked about. What was it again? The horn -"

"_Thorn _Mauler!" Koji hooked an elbow around Tidus's neck and swung him down like he was going to pound an elbow into his head before he released him.

Laughing with him, Tidus hopped back a few steps. "Okay, okay - _Thorn _Mauler! But you can't brag about it unless you can prove that it works!"

"It uses magic, like a drain tackle and a venom tackle, so, frankly, it wouldn't be fair to use it on you without your little dragon attack summoned." Koji chuckled. "I'll play next time." With a brief wave, he jogged toward the path leading to the village.

"Maybe you should go with him in case he runs into some fiends," Paine suggested.

"He knows the way easily enough now," Tidus answered as he waved back. "Or are you just trying to remove me from the game, so I won't be able to block your sorry little Jecht shots?" he teased as he turned to face her.

The ball hit him in the stomach so hard that the sting nearly knocked the wind out of him.

"Was that real enough for you? You should start the blitz-off, Squid," Paine confidently droned as she stood and dusted the sand from her shorts. "It's probably the only time you'll be able to get to your hands on the ball."

))((

As he jogged away from the campfire, Koji laughed to himself hearing their jeers and cheers. He had forgotten what it was like to be a part of that kind of camaraderie. Part of him was still hesitant about it. But to be real once more … Just thinking about it made him draw a deep breath of fresh air as he ran down the road and across the bridge beneath the waterfalls. At least, he assumed the air was fresh, since this was a tropical island untainted with big industry. He assumed it just like he assumed the water spray from the falls was cool, though he couldn't truly breathe or feel anything anymore. Being unsent, his living senses were lost to him. What he felt now was based more on memory. The only true pain a spirit could feel, he decided, was the emptiness of decomposition. He had felt true pain during the squid's attack. As an illusion, however, Tidus seemed to feel true hunger, fatigue, and senses, just like a real person. It seemed to Koji that Tidus should be grateful for how close he was to being real, and for a moment, Koji envied him almost as much as he had envied Shuyin when they were both alive. But Koji had no quarrel with Tidus. If anything, he was grateful to have met him because Tidus and Yuna had become a true source of hope.

Could Yuna really do it? Was she as capable of bringing him back to life as she had been at healing him? Perhaps she ... No. Koji shook his head to erase those thoughts as soon as they entered his mind and slowed his run as he reached the slope leading down into the village.

Inside the gates, people were milling about enjoying the cool, evening breeze as they chatted about their day's tasks and local gossip. Koji made his way toward the torch lights burning outside of the only trader shop on the island and spotted two boys that were imitating the sphere-shot trick he played on Tidus. Chuckling to himself at their impressionable antics, he started to enter the shop when he noticed the old man was there again, sitting on a bench in the darkness just beyond the torchlight.

"Come to buy another sword?" Meimo asked in a scratchy, old voice.

Koji frowned at the remark and the memory of their last meeting. "No."

"Then what else could you possibly need?"

Bothered by the old man's tone and scrutiny, Koji decided to keep his explanation simple. "I need something to remove the color from my hair."

Meimo's brows rose in humor and he propped his cane in front of his knees as he adjusted his straw hat. "Well, I can do that. What color would you like?"

"It used to be brown."

Meimo chuckled softly to himself. "Blue suits you better." When his hat was straightened, he stood, took up his cane, and gestured for Koji to follow him again. "Come."

Koji clenched his teeth, but was careful not to let his disdain for the old man show. Sighing to himself, he considered heading right back to the beach without his dispel potion. Then, he released the flap of the tent door and followed Meimo into the shadows.

))((

About an hour later, with the blitzball game done, Gippal announced it was time he and Shinra headed back to their perspective homes. Wakka and Lulu had a sleepy baby to tuck in, and Cid, Brother, and Buddy all returned to the airship for showers before hitting their beds. Paine and Rikku walked away together talking about tomorrow's plans, both for Tidus's house and their trip to Macalania, which Rikku had decided to join. Tidus and Yuna were left alone on the beach to put out the bonfire. To Yuna, it was the perfect opportunity to discuss a nagging matter of importance. To Tidus, it was the perfect opportunity for ulterior motives.

"Have you given any more thought to where we should hide?" she asked, sitting next to him while stirring the glowing coals in the sand.

He gave her a sly smile as he rested his elbows on his knees. "No, but … how about the oasis in Bikanel? It'd be just like here, except it'd be just us. We could swim in the surf all day and sleep under the moon at night. With no one else there, we could even run around completely butt-naked if we wanted to." He bumped her knees again and gave his brows a small wriggle that made her laugh.

"That sounds more like a vacation than hiding - _your _idea of a vacation," she added, amused.

"You wouldn't like that? How could you not like that?"

"I would get tired of swimming every day for one thing. And I would miss my bed, and … we would get sunburned in some rather painful places," she added with a wince.

"See, your problem is that you're not lazy enough to look at that kind of thing from the right perspective." Tidus leaned forward to pick up his own large stick to tap and stir the dying embers. "You're too practical."

Yuna smiled at his complaint. "Well, I have to be practical because you're not."

"All right, then. What would you pick for a hiding place?"

Yuna set down her stick, interlaced her fingers at her knees, and squished her toes down under the cool sand, lifting them lightly to watch them crack and crumble the surface. "I would pick a small cavern in the Thunder Plains."

Tidus stopped stirring the coals to look at her. "You're kidding, right? That has to be the most god-forsaken spot on the planet."

"The fiends on the outside would keep Meimo away. The sound of the rain on the rock and sand would be relaxing. And it would be so cold on the inside that we would have to stay close to stay warm," she explained, leaning against him.

Tidus's brows rose in small surprise at her thinking. "I like it when you're practical." He dropped the stick, grinned, and scooted closer to drape an arm across her shoulders. "But what if there's a fiend on the inside?"

Yuna giggled lightly. "I've lived with you for a year now. I think I can handle it."

Tidus snorted at her joke. "Gee, thanks." Then, he realized she was right. "Woah. It _has_ been a whole year now, hasn't it?"

"Four years, to be exact. Well, ... two if you don't count the time you were gone." She studied the way the shadows from the firelight played across his face and raised a hand to trace the outline of his jaw. "In my mind, we've been together for four years. And I want you to be around a lot longer. That's why hiding -"

He interrupted her worry with a soft kiss. "I intend to be around for a long, long time. Especially, if you can make me real."

Yuna closed her eyes with unspoken sadness, ... and fear. Creating real life ... How was it even possible? What if she failed? What if she made a mistake and lost him in the process? Sometimes she still feared that if she squeezed him too hard, her arms would pass right through the illusion again. When it came to matters of magic, his existence was so fragile.

As she listened to the undulating motion of the waves and the snapping of the remaining embers, she thought about what a powerful, unpredictable force magic could be. Magic existed everywhere on Spira in some way. It was in the breeze that lifted her side bangs across her temples and in the cool sand beneath her toes. But it ran even deeper than that - much, much deeper into the heart of their world. It _was_ their world.

Tidus's brows rose in mild anxiety at her lack of response. "Do you ... _not_ want me to be real?"

She lifted her head and her gaze to look into his eyes. "I want you to be happy. But … I like you just the way you are." No, she didn't. What a horrible lie. She hated being afraid of losing him so completely to the Farplane, or a sending, or any kind of magic gone wrong.

He smiled at her sentiment and drew his arms around her to give her another kiss.

As soon as his lips touched hers, Yuna released the fear of the daunting task ahead of her and drank in the warmth of his nearness. With each kiss, she sank a little lower, until she relaxed beneath him in the sand. As her hands slid to his waist and underneath his shirt, she was relieved to feel abdominal muscles tense beneath her touch – solid flesh, instead of pyreflies. Would this dream magic ever cease to amaze her?

Tidus broke away with an abrupt laugh. "Tickles," he excused himself in apology. Shifting his balance to one arm, he scratched beneath his ribs in attempt to deaden the nerves at the extra-sensitive spot.

Yuna grinned mischievously at his reaction, but then repeated the gesture.

Tidus involuntarily jerked back again and snatched her wrist to make her stop, but then laughed. "Would you cut it out? You're killing the moment, here, Yuna."

As she laughed with him, she noticed Koji had returned. His longish hair was a chestnut brown now, and his eyes were a warm hazel. The simple color transformation made for a startling difference in his appearance, but he grinned, putting his finger to his lips as he drew close behind Tidus. Yuna tried not to show obvious surprise as Koji picked up the bucket of water near the bonfire that was supposed to finish off the cooled embers. But she couldn't help laughing as he tip-toed closer and tilted the bucket ever-so-carefully over Tidus's back.

As soon as the thin trickle of cold water hit his spine, Tidus sucked air through his teeth and sat upright. Koji tipped the rest of the bucket to flood his back. As Tidus whirled to see who had drenched him, Koji flipped the bucket toward him and ran toward the airship laughing. Tidus blocked the bucket with his hand, but then jumped to his feet with a curse and sprinted after him.

Yuna sat up and laughed as she watched the chase that followed with both of them cursing at each other around the airship's landing gear. Koji splashed through the waves until Tidus finally pulled him down and both of them went under, but when both of the blitzball players surfaced, they were laughing. Yuna stood and ran to meet them as they waded back to the shore.

Their clothing was completely soaked, but Tidus giggled and wiped the water from his eyes as he pulled the waistband of his shorts up an inch. "I hope that wasn't your new tackle because that was just _sad!_"

Koji rested an elbow on Tidus's shoulder as he ran a hand over his wet hair to sweep it from his face. "Just wanted to let you know I was back." He winked at Yuna and gave her a thumbs-up for her cooperation in the ambush.

Tidus shook out his head like a wet dog, but then caught the glances between them and realized why Yuna was so amused. "You _knew_ he was going to do that? That's twice you've conspired against me! Whose side are you on anyway?"

"I like the color change," she complimented Koji. "You look more warm and friendly now."

"Yeah, maybe _Rikku_ will like it, too," Tidus inserted with a meaningful glance toward his friend.

Yuna blinked in surprise at the odd reference to Rikku, but then she suddenly found herself being hoisted over his shoulder as he jogged back into the water. She tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help herself. "Tidus! Stop! It's dark and the water's cold!" she yelped in protest.

"I know it's cold! I had a whole bucket of it dumped down my back, and you were in on it!" He reminded her as he held her over the gently cresting waves.

Yuna rested an elbow on his shoulder, putting her chin in her hand in mock contemplation of her dilemma. "But if you loved me, you wouldn't dump me in the cold, nasty water. You would see that this was all just for fun," she added with a giggle.

"Uh-huh. Like the grid switch thing?" He swung her down from his shoulder to his arms.

"YAiiii!" She winced and laughed, bracing herself to hit the cold water, but he caught her instead of dropping her. He was enjoying the taunt.

"You deserve some kind of payback for putting me in Rikku's clothes."

Yuna pouted and wrapped her arms around his neck. "But it's our anniversary."

Tidus's nose scrunched. "What? Today's not the anniversary of our first date."

She laughed a little as he jostled her like he was going to drop her once more. "No, but you wouldn't throw me in the water if it _was_ our anniversary, right?"

"Depends on whether you deserve it."

"But I didn't actually pour the water down your back."

"Guilty by omission."

"Then how about making me dip my toes into it?" She raised her knee and wiggled her toes. That was a respectable compromise, wasn't it?

"Mmmmm, … how about up to the knees?" He gently lowered her feet into the tide, while still maintaining his hold on her torso.

"Mmmmm, ... okay." She smiled as the cold water surged around her calves, and she tilted her head toward him to receive his salt-water kisses.

))((

Under the airship landing gear, Koji smiled as he watched the couple for a moment. Then, he sighed, wrung out the hem of his soaked shirt, and headed up the ramp into the airship.

Beneath the waves, an unsent circle of light watched the couple, too.

))((

The following morning, Brother put Tidus and Koji on mop patrol for leaving trails of dirty sand and water behind in the lift and hallway. Both young men protested, but in the end they were left with their rags and a bucket of soapy water to clean up their mess.

Tidus promptly smacked the back of Koji's head with his rag. "This is_ your_ fault."

"It was _your_ brilliant idea to chase me into the water."

"Because you ran into the water."

"Because you were chasing me _toward_ the water. Didn't you learn anything from Shuyin?" Koji jokingly accused. "What if that squid had eaten us again? You'd have to be reincarnated in a third body, and I'd be left explaining everything to Yuna."

Tidus considered that ridiculous possibility for a moment. "Well, at least my second incarnation hasn't been as much trouble as the first. A third time might turn me into an angel."

Koji nodded with an appreciative smirk. "True. Although, I'd aim for no less than nine lives, if that's your goal. No, wait. Nine might turn you into a cat, instead."

"If Yuna can make me real, I won't have to worry about turning into anything else." Tidus tossed his rag into the soapy bucket. "We should be hunting for that sphere, not mopping up last night's dried water marks. We should chase Brother into the water, and with any luck, maybe the squid will eat _him_. He's always looking for excuses to punish me for dating Yuna, … even though she's his cousin." The corner of Tidus's mouth twisted with mild distaste.

Koji frowned with doubt. "Okay, the gross factor for that sort of thing is way off the chart, so I say that means you're not responsible for his issues, … or his punishments."

Tidus copied his friend's appreciative smirk. "True."

Both young men got down on their hands and knees to begin scrubbing the floor, but as soon as Brother and Cid left the Celsius to spend the day in the village, Tidus and Koji dropped their wash rags in unison into the bucket. Then, they headed up to the bridge to consult with Buddy and the ship's electronic navigation system for maps of Zanarkand.

"The problem with this mission is that we're starting with nothing," Buddy explained as he pulled up a grid of the area of the city that remained under water. "We don't know what we're looking for or where it could be. We've got to find some way to narrow down the scope of the search." He scratched his shoulder lightly as he zoomed in and directed a watcher's camera angle through the mapped depressions of the ruins and the ocean floor. "Possible places to look would include Yevon's home and any of the temples he owned and operated. Do either of you know where he lived?" He paused in his navigation and looked over his shoulder at the two Zanarkand natives.

Tidus and Koji exchanged looks of doubt. "He didn't exist in dream Zanarkand," Tidus informed them. "Well, ... not like he did here. I didn't even know who he was until I came here."

"I always took for granted he lived in the temple," Koji admitted.

"The only time Shuyin saw him was in the temple," Tidus agreed.

"Didn't Zanarkand have a governing palace or something?" Buddy asked.

Koji shook his head. "Just the temple."

"Wait, gardens ..." Tidus remembered as he searched Shuyin's memories. "Yevon's first aeons were hidden in some kind of garden." He glanced to Koji. "Lenne used to be able to summon them, but Bevelle destroyed them when it launched the attack."

Koji was surprised. "Lenne could summon aeons? She never told me that."

Buddy chuckled lightly. "What else did you think summoners did?"

"In Zanarkand, summoners healed the sick, sent the dead, and protected the city from fiends. I didn't know anything about aeons until you guys told me about them."

"It's because they were meant to be secret weapons," Tidus explained, continuing from Shuyin's memories. "Yevon put aeons in the water gardens to protect the city, and he was in the process of installing aeons in the temples as well, in case the governing Founders in Bevelle decided to strike one of them. No one but his most powerful clergy and summoners was supposed to know about them. But his Bevelle temple was overseen by a priest who disagreed with some of Yevon's policies and turned his secrets over to the Founders. The Founders then ordered Bevelle to attack Zanarkand to _cleanse_ it of Yevon, his aeons, and all magic users. That's why Yevon was so furious with his own temple in Bevelle. And the priest who betrayed Yevon is the same one that ordered Lenne's execution because he knew that Yevon intended to turn her into the Bevelle temple's aeon. It wasn't until later, after the war, that Yunalesca moved Bahamut's aeon into that temple."

"Bahamut …" Koji was upset, then puzzled. "How do you know all that?"

Tidus lowered his head in shame once more as he related the distant trail of memories. "Since Lenne was one of the few who could summon the old aeons, she knew she would have to fight if there was a war. She asked Shuyin to be her guardian. When he tried to bust her out of captivity in Bevelle, he found out about the traitor priest and the plans to execute her. But, as I already told you, ... they both died trying to escape. He went back later as an unsent spirit and killed everyone responsible for her death and the orders to attack Zanarkand. Shuyin's grief and hatred kept him unsent for a thousand years before he finally found peace."

As Tidus lifted his chin to meet his gaze, Koji felt a pang of jealousy. It was difficult to hear about Lenne's secrets from Shuyin. No, not Shuyin ... And yet only Shuyin could have recognized his feelings on the matter and felt shame for them.

A tense moment of silence passed between them before Tidus spoke again. "You died before any of this took place. That's why she never told you."

Koji nodded in understanding and tried to put the past behind him again. There were more important matters to discuss than the past. "So, if Yevon hid his older aeons in the gardens, do you think that's where he might have also hidden the information on how to make them?"

Tidus considered it for a moment and then shook his head. "Fayth tombs could be passed off as decorative garden sculptures to someone who didn't know what they really were. Magic documents would more likely be hidden in an office, an alchemy lab, or a bedroom, even." He sighed in discouragement. "Looks like this mission might take a while."

The tone of the com sphere sounded, drawing their attention away from their map study and Buddy reached across Koji to hit the reception key. "Friendly neighborhood Gullwings at your service," he mused in greeting as the face on the monitor came into focus. "What's up Nooj?"

"You guys seriously need a new slogan."

Buddy chuckled. "Don't pin it on me. I'm just the navigator. Can of Whoop-Ass Gullwings was taken."

Nooj shifted to lean closer to the com sphere on his desk. "Is Tidus there, by any chance?"

Tidus moved to stand behind Buddy's chair and placed the digital pen he had been holding behind his right ear. "Whoop-ass Gullwing reporting for duty, sir. Did you talk to Baralai?"

"He says the temple doesn't have any spheres like what you asked about. You've peaked his curiosity, though. Now he's wondering why the temples have no records on how to create more aeons. He said he would start searching the older documents to see if he can find any references."

"Cool. Thanks, man. We're going to begin a search for it from this end. If Baralai is going to cover the temples still in use, we'll cover the ones that have fallen to ruin." Tidus heard the door behind them open, and he looked over his shoulder to see Yuna, Rikku, and Paine enter the bridge.

The rest of the crew had been surprised to see Koji's color change after he came in last night, but now as they approached, Rikku grinned and playfully patted the back of his head to show her approval. "You look like a little squirrel now."

Paine hopped up on the rail near the control panel and crossed her legs, hooking one foot behind her calf, to see what this communication from Nooj was all about.

Tidus smirked at Koji in response to his prediction.

"I'm afraid I have some other news, too," Nooj continued, sparing Koji whatever remark Tidus was about to say. "You know that sphere of Earth we secluded away on the top floor of the library that was eventually going to be dedicated to Spira's origins? It's gone."

"Gone?" Tidus was astonished, but then became angry. "Who would steal a sphere like that?"

"Well, I could suggest _one_ person who might be interested, now that he's out of the dungeons."

Tidus straightened and rested his hands on his hips in disgust. "Meimo ... Man, that just _pisses_ me off. That was the only sphere of Earth we had."

Yuna approached their cluster from behind and addressed Nooj. "If Meimo is still on the loose, and the sphere of Earth has disappeared, do you think he may be trying to start up the Echo Alliance again?"

"Lady Yuna." Nooj's head nodded in greeting to her when she came in view of the com sphere's screen. "That was the only sphere taken, so we can't ignore the possible connection with his escape."

Yuna twisted a loop of fringe from her belt around her finger, then faced Tidus with a determined frown. "I don't think we should put it off any longer. I want you to go into hiding."

Tidus winced at the suggestion. "Look, I know I agreed to it before, but if Meimo really wanted to come after me, he'd have been here by now. He doesn't want me. He wants a way back into Spira's bridge to grab the controls and take her back to Earth."

She shook her head, unwilling to take his rejection for an answer this time. "I want you to pack some things and come with me to Bevelle today. While we're there, we can decide on a place for you to stay so you don't have to come back to Besaid."

"Yuna, I'm mapping ruins to plan a search route right now. Do you have any idea how long this search for Yevon's spheres could take?" He pointed to the navigation system displays Buddy had pulled up on the screen.

"We can look for Yevon's spheres after Meimo has been caught, so he can't send you to the Farplane."

"If we can find Yevon's spheres, you won't _need_ to worry about him sending me. Can't you imagine what a shock that would be to him?" He felt one of his own arms in a dramatic impersonation of himself. "Woah! Look at that, Meimo! I'm a real boy! I'm still here! Guess that plan sucked wet tea bags, huh?" He laughed with everyone else who found his joke funny.

Yuna scowled and pushed his arm down. "That's not funny."

Koji continued to chuckle, but then lightly rubbed his nose and regained a bit of serious composure. "Um, ... I hate to say it, but I think she's right. There's some old guy in the village that's been asking questions about you. He wants to know if you taught me how to use my sword yet, if you're always with Yuna, and how the work on your hut is going. Wears a straw hat, walks with a cane ... Seems a little suspicious to me. You might want to stay away from Besaid for a few days, just to be safe."

"Cane? Maybe it was Nooj on a bad hair day."

"I'm still here, Tidus," Nooj reminded him with a flat look of tolerance for that crack.

"Nah, this guy was all wrinkled and old," Koji corrected.

"Wrinkled, huh? Meimo's not that old." Tidus's amusement gradually turned into confusion.

"But Meimo can use illusion magic, and that does sound suspicious," Paine agreed with Koji. "We should check out this old guy as soon as Tidus is safe."

"Pack your bags; you're going to Bevelle!" Rikku ordered.

"We can map the ruins when you get back," Buddy offered to console Tidus's disappointment.

"Okay, how about a comprise then," Tidus bargained. "Let me do one dive, and then I promise I'll hide nicely before asking to do another one." When Yuna looked skeptical, he moved in close to wrap her in a hug and aim for sympathy. "Please, please, please, please? All I ask is one swim in the ocean before you lock me away in an itty-bitty little cave somewhere and stop feeding me."

Yuna sighed and rolled her eyes toward Rikku and Paine, who snickered lightly at his drama.

Tidus lifted his chin just enough to see if she was caving in yet. When she didn't seem responsive, he buried his nose and cheek into her neck. "No food. No water. No sunlight. No snuggle. Just kicking me out like a dog, … so you can have doggy dreams about Mekoshiko."

Now Koji was the one confused. "Hoh? W-wait ..."

Yuna was caught between amusement and disgust. "Okay_,_ you can do _one_ dive. One! But then you go into hiding, ... and no trying to talk your way out of it."

Tidus grinned and kissed her. Removing the digital pen from behind his ear, he dropped it on the control panel beneath the monitor. "I'll pack my gear and check out Macalania with you guys and Gippal, but then we'll head to Zanarkand from there. Buddy, make me a copy of the sunken water garden and temple areas. Koji can help you find it. We'll cross off those possibilities first."

"That sugar-coated act was truly pathetic," Nooj commented from the com sphere.

"It worked, didn't it?" he answered. "You should try it sometime instead of that sourpuss thing you've got going on."

"Sourpuss is dead sexy for your information," Nooj countered.

Tidus laughed at the deadpan delivery of that comeback as he headed for the door and left the ship's bridge.

"I thought girls always considered strong and silent sexy," Buddy spoke his thoughts on the matter.

"Nah, not unless it's a brooding kind of sexy," Koji casually corrected him.

"Girls like brooding," Nooj agreed without emotion.

"Because it allows them to sympathize?" Buddy guessed.

Koji nodded. "Yeah, but it's more like an intellectual sexy. Guys that brood tend to be deep thinkers and all that. Although smart-ass sexy is always good for a laugh. Girls always like guys who can genuinely make them laugh. Sympathetic-smart-ass sexy - that's the winning combination right there." Koji grinned proudly at having figured out the formula for snagging a girl's attention.

"But … isn't that what he just did?" Buddy asked.

Koji recalled Tidus's play for Yuna's sympathy and considered Shuyin's past tactics with women. "That's how he did it! Damn!" With disgusted defeat, he slouched low in his seat. "He's even sneakier than I remember."

Paine shook her head and hopped down from her perch. "I can't take it anymore. This is too painful to watch."

Yuna laughed lightly at their male colleagues, but said nothing as she fell into step behind her friend to follow her out. Rikku giggled and patted Koji's hair once more, but then followed her friends.

When the door of the bridge closed behind the young women, the two men on the bridge and the one joining them via com sphere quieted after their exit. Nooj looked down at his desk and fidgeted with a spinning crystal. Buddy tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. Koji chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip until he finally broke the silence. "We probably shouldn't have had that conversation in front of them, should we?"

"Nope. Probably not," Nooj and Buddy agreed.


	13. Chapter 13: Ghost Ship

Chapter 13: Ghost Ship

When the door to his Bevelle office opened, Baralai looked up from reading his book to find his assistant leading Yuna and Tidus into the room. "Good morning. Only two of you? I thought there would be more since Gippal said you wanted to move Arantisu's tomb." He closed the book and stood, greeting them with a formal gesture of prayer, which they all returned.

"The others are talking with him in the lobby," Yuna explained.

Baralai addressed Tidus. "Did you get my message from Nooj regarding your questions about Yevon having magical records on hand?"

"Yeah, thanks," Tidus nodded. "He told us about the stolen Earth sphere, too. I don't suppose you've had any new developments on Meimo's escape?"

Baralai shook his head. "No, but I've stepped up the guards around the Heart of the Farplane. To us Seymour's sphere is nothing but a large, harmless collection of memories, but in Meimo's hands any information on Earth might help him take control of Spira's bridge again." Baralai stepped closer to Yuna and held up the very old book for her to see. "I've been reading some passages from the older copies of Yevon's teachings. Most people believe them to be an eternal constant, and yet it's so obvious, even to us in the clergy, that the original edicts demanded by Lady Yunalesca and her father have evolved over the years to match political and cultural custom." He paused and lowered the book. "You've made me curious about how Yevon learned to create and summon aeons, but ... are you sure you want to dig up this kind of information? I can't blame you for being curious how dream magic works, but there are probably serious unknowns to consider when tinkering with life beyond death."

Tidus seemed determined to pursue this. "If Yevon could use the Fayth to make aeons, then he might have had information on how to bring back the spirits of ordinary people, too."

"Ordinary _dead_ people," Baralai corrected with concern. "I fail to see how this can help you, Tidus. Considering how you were made, any tampering with your soul is more likely to bring back Shuyin, rather than making dream magic real."

"I'm not Shuyin." He reminded the praetor with a frown. "My soul is my own now, but … maybe it's enough like a dead soul that something like this could make me real in the same way." He shifted his backpack full of travel supplies and sighed at Baralai's attempt to talk him out of it. "Look, if there's nothing in there about how to make dreams become real, then that's all I need to see. But I have to know what's possible and what's not before I can give up the hunt."

Since logic wasn't working, Baralai resorted to law. "It's not you that concerns me; it's the availability of the knowledge once it's found. Necromancy is forbidden - even to the summoning arts - and for good reason. The dead should be allowed to rest."

"What if they don't want to rest?"

"Then we send them _anyway_. Death eventually comes to all living things, so that the living have a chance to live. We have enough problems with souls who have lost their way to the Farplane. Can you imagine what the world would be like if no one ever died? We would run out of space and resources and turn on each other in madness or starvation. And on Spira, death serves another purpose. The positive and negative planes of magic that run this ship need the life energy of dead souls. If death were optional, the Farplane might weaken enough that everything on Spira would die. We'd be a ghost ship. Would you want that?"

"Spira's a ghost ship anyway if it's dependent on dead souls like that. The temple's customs and rituals are built on the study of spirits, so it makes no sense to forbid the study of aeon creation. When summoners pray to the Fayth, aren't they invoking dead souls? Yevon himself is a spirit."

"The Fayth are exceptions because they sacrificed themselves for the purpose of protecting the living," Baralai answered with growing irritation. "Like the Fayth, Summoners have a responsibility to protect and restore the living, but they are to send the dead to the Farplane. They are forbidden to reverse the process. Restoration of the dead is not summoning - it's necromancy."

"Oh, please," Tidus sarcastically grumbled. "If that's the case, then Yevon himself was a necromancer because the Fayth didn't sacrifice themselves; they _were_ sacrifices. And then he restored them as aeons."

"Your arrogance borders on blasphemy." Baralai frowned. "You know, from what I've heard, your brassiness on Yevon's teachings has always rubbed people the wrong way, but y_ou_ of _all_ people should recognize the sainthood of those who gave you life and sent you here."

Yuna's eyes widened at the increasingly heated, sacrilegious exchange. "Baralai," she softly interrupted to intervene on her boyfriend's behalf. "Part of the reason the Fayth created him was to expose the truth from the lies."

"I'm not trashing their sainthood," Tidus argued over her. "You're assuming that everything written in those books about Yevon is absolute truth, even though you know otherwise now. Has anyone ever actually _asked_ the Fayth how they died?"

"Asking those kinds of questions are forbidden."

Tidus quirked a skeptical brow. "_Questions_ are forbidden?"

Baralai's mood and expression darkened. "You don't ask women how old they are, and you don't ask the dead how they died. It's disrespectful and insulting."

"Is that written in one of those books, too? Because forbidding questions is a good way to keep secrets _secret,_ don't you think?"

Yuna faced Tidus with a troubled expression. "Tidus, … do you know something we don't?"

He answered with a grave sigh and shook his head. "Shuyin's memories ..."

"What did Shuyin know?" she hesitantly prompted him to further explain.

Baralai scowled at where this conversation had lead, but held his tongue as he waited impatiently for Tidus to figure out how to tell the short version of what Shuyin lived through.

"Yevon wanted to promote Lenne as guardian of the temple in Bevelle. Bevelle was already hostile toward Zanarkand at that time, so assigning Lenne a post there meant she would be in direct line of danger. Yevon told her she would be teaching new summoners how to summon the new aeon he intended to put there. Lenne was willing to go, but Shuyin wasn't happy about it. He didn't like Yevon – didn't trust him. When Shuyin was captured, Bevelle's maester confirmed that Yevon meant for Lenne to _become_ Bevelle's new aeon. But Bevelle's maester didn't want any "demonic" aeons in his temple, so the traitor ordered Lenne's execution instead. Somehow, later, the temple in Bevelle got her little brother, instead." Tidus paused and took a step closer to Baralai. "Shuyin didn't live long enough to find out _exactly_ how Yevon created the Fayth, but since Lenne was nearly tricked into it by a serve-to-protect promotion, he was certain the High Summoner used similar tactics with Zanarkand's remaining survivors, feeding off of their desperation during the war, to transform himself into Sin. All of the Fayth - particularly the aeons - wanted us to destroy Yevon's cycle of death and set them free. That means, just like Lenne, they probably didn't know what they were getting into when they volunteered to serve him, … which means they probably didn't volunteer to die."

As Yuna drew back, the shame on her face was easily readable. Another of the temple's lies exposed ... Another brick of faith knocked out of the foundation ... Yuna had not paid homage to Yevon or his temple since the banishment of Sin and the exposure of corrupt leadership, but this cleaved an even deeper chasm between the maesters who ran the previous order and each of the Fayth who fought beside her.

Baralai was unhappy with Tidus's explanation, too, but for an entirely different reason. He drew one step closer and poignantly straightened the sash of his Yevonite robe. "Yevon fell victim to his own magical strength. No one denies that. But you're forgetting that he sacrificed himself, too, in order to defeat Bevelle and bring the war to an end. He is the one that brought the summoning arts to the layman to keep fiends from overrunning our cities. Before he was Sin, Yu Yevon was revered as a man who fought fiercely for Zanarkand's protection and Spira's freedom. How dare you refer to him as a deceitful murderer in these halls that honor him!"

"Hey, you're the one that defined necromancy!" Tidus thumped a pointed finger into the praetor's chest. "Yevon killed the living to create something from death. That's _not_ what I'm asking for here."

Yuna's chin suddenly lifted in astonishment. "The Final Aeon!"

Baralai and Tidus were both silenced at her unexpected and strange outburst.

"Don't you see?" She looked to Tidus with hope for the first time since he suggested this quest. "Lady Yunalesca turned your father into the Zanarkand temple's Fayth so that my father could summon him as the Final Aeon. _She_ was the last person to create an aeon."

Tidus accepted the suggestion, but then shrugged helplessly. "True, but it's not like she was carrying notes around with her when we met her in Zanarkand."

"She'd been making aeons for a thousand years. She didn't need notes anymore, but since Yevon passed along his knowledge to his daughter, any notes to be found may be at her home, rather than his." Yuna tried to mentally retrace Yunalesca's steps. "And her home wasn't Zanarkand – not after the war."

Tidus picked up on her train of thought. "She lived in Bevelle because she had to come here to take back the temple from the traitors and establish Yevon's edicts. She couldn't have gone back to Zanarkand because it was destroyed. She might have left Yevon's notes here in Bevelle." Tidus turned toward Baralai with a grin, in spite of their argument only seconds earlier.

Baralai could tell what he was thinking, but shook his head. "No. There is no way I'll allow a bunch of sphere hunters to -"

"It could be the most important discovery -"

"- to start prying tiles out of the floors -"

"- on Spira to date!"

"- looking for hidden treasure spheres!"

When both of them finished talking at once, they ended up in a face-off. Tidus was always more persistent about these things, though. And one look at Yuna's hopeful expression was all that was needed to complete the argument. Baralai sighed in surrender. "I can conduct a thorough investigation of the grounds and any rooms Yunalesca might have used as personal quarters. But, if I catch you lifting paintings or pulling up rugs to see if anything is hidden beneath them ..."

Tidus grinned at Baralai's concession. "Deal."

"Thank you, Baralai." Yuna gave his cheek a small kiss that made him blush.

"What was that for?" Tidus mildly complained.

"It's difficult for Baralai to cope with you sometimes," Yuna reminded him with small embarrassment. "So we need to let him know we appreciate his help. It would be so easy for him to be like all those other maesters who came before him. He could completely shut us out and call us for our executions. Instead, he's our friend."

Tidus lifted a skeptical brow toward Baralai. "Okay, but … don't count on me kissing him to show my gratitude."

Baralai conjured his spear into his hand, but remained stoic in his stance as he tapped his fingers on the polearm.

Yuna laughed lightly at the obligatory enmity following their argument. "We shouldn't keep the others waiting. Let's go talk to Gippal about moving Arantisu's tomb."

"Yuna," Baralai spoke again as he escorted them to his office door. "Since this aeon is not an official Fayth, I have no objections to you moving her. She is your aeon, rather than ours. However, I have to say that I think she's better off in the Farplane since Meimo is still loose."

"Meimo will be looking for her in the Farplane - not Besaid. I won't be summoning her; just moving the tomb so she can be closer to us in spirit."

Baralai conceded to her reasoning. "Just be sure to hide her location well. Remember, the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth was found in spite of someone's intentions to hide it." Baralai gave a small smile and bowed in parting. "Oh, and Tidus, ... Some time, when you're not busy, I would like to talk more about what Shuyin knew of Yevon."

Tidus stared at the priest with mild astonishment, but then nodded in agreement.

Smirking at the blitzball player's response, then pursing his lips with concern, the praetor turned and left to take care of other business.

))((

While most of the Gullwings waited in the main lobby of the temple with Tidus, Yuna went with Gippal into the Farplane to oversee his robot crews and workers as they labored to dig out the enormous stone statue where Arantisu's small body was buried. Yuna sat alone in the magical meadow and stared at the misty falls as she twirled one of the still-living flowers in her fingers that she had plucked to adorn the child's grave. How it managed to live in spite of having no roots, no soil, no water, and no sun amazed her. And yet, the surreal horizon looked like a sky from a whole other world. The sun, atmosphere, and clouds from that other world were obviously sufficient for the flowers at her feet.

"What's happening?" a small voice asked.

Startled, Yuna turned her chin to see Arantisu's spirit sitting in the flowers beside her. After her heart calmed a bit, she smiled before answering. "I'm taking you home with me."

"You mean I get to live at the beach?" the dark haired, half-guado child asked in excitement.

Yuna nodded. "We didn't want you to be so alone down here."

"Alone?" The puzzled girl cast her blank stare across the empty meadow. "But there's lots of people down here. Can't you see them?"

Yuna looked around, but saw only pyreflies. The blind girl was obviously seeing spirits of the dead that she herself could not. "This is a place where your vision is better than mine," she answered uncomfortably. That's when Yuna realized that the little girl might be able to help them in another way. And in spite of what Baralai said earlier, she wondered if direct questions were perhaps the best way to approach a spirit about such matters. "'Tisu, do you remember anything about your father, Maedra?"

"You mean from when I was a baby? No. Why?"

"I was … wondering if he left behind any documents on how to create aeons?"

"I wouldn't know. Want me to ask him?"

Again, the girl's response unsettled Yuna. It had not occurred to her that Maedra's spirit might be here in the Farplane even though that was a logical conclusion considering this was where he died. "Um, … yes, … please. If it's not too much trouble."

The girl burst apart in a sparkle of pyreflies that swarmed and swirled away.

While she waited, Yuna wondered if the direct approach might work with someone else as well. "Bahamut? Can you hear me?"

The boy appeared in the flowers next to her on the side opposite where the girl had been sitting. "Honestly, Lady Yuna. Not only are you here twice in one week, but you're doing road construction, as well. This is supposed to be a place of rest."

Yuna laughed lightly at his complaint. "I'm sorry the machina is disturbing you. We're taking Arantisu's tomb to Besaid. I was wondering, though, is it possible for you to contact Lady Yunalesca's spirit, to ask her a question for me? I would like to know how she and her father learned how to make aeons."

Bahamut was silent for a moment, and then hesitant to say anything further about it. "What do you want to know that for?"

Yuna was slightly embarrassed to explain. "Tidus thinks that since Lord Yevon knew magic to summon the dream and create aeons, he might also have known magic that could make him real."

"Tidus doesn't think he's real enough?"

"Most of the time he doesn't care, but every once in a while he feels ... different."

"He _is_ different," Bahamut countered in slight annoyance. "And if Yu Yevon knew how to make things real, he would have really brought Zanarkand back to life, instead of summoning a dream."

Yuna was surprised at how disappointed she felt for Tidus upon hearing Bahamut's opinion. "I never thought of it that way. Then, ... Yunalesca wouldn't have known how to make dreams real either?"

"I'm afraid not. Tidus needs to realize how special he is and be happy Yevon was willing to help us summon him back from the Farplane."

"I don't suppose aeon magic will help him, then," Yuna guessed as her last resort.

"No." Bahamut saddened deeply and sighed. "Lady Yuna, please don't make any more aeons."

There was no mistaking the tone of pain in his voice. "Why not?" she softly asked.

"Because ..." The boy's lips thinned as he fought with himself whether to talk about it or not.

Yuna could see the discomfort she had caused the small Fayth. "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that. It was insensitive of me." She looked down at the flower in her hand.

"No. If you're wanting to make aeons, … you should know. You should know how I died."

Yuna lifted her chin to see that the boy's spirit had saddened beneath the hood of his purple shirt. She remained respectfully silent to let him proceed at his own pace, though she felt bad for having brought it up.

"After Bevelle attacked," he began, "Lady Yunalesca and Lord Zaon evacuated any Zanarkand survivors who were unable to fight into some Ronso caverns deep in Mt. Gagazet. The Ronso offered to defend us, but … they needed someone to defend them, too, you know? I was too young to join the summoners and warriors marching against Bevelle, but … Lady Yunalesca asked if I was willing to help defend the refugees. She promised to make me strong, so I thought I would be guarding the caverns like the Ronso warriors. But … she cast a sleep spell on me. When I woke up, she had turned me into this really big dragon, but I could still see my own body frozen inside the stone. That's when I realized ... I wasn't _really_ going to wake up anymore. Then Zanarkand's army was defeated in the Calm Lands, and Lord Yevon called for the others to come out of the caverns. He said he needed their strength to help him defeat Bevelle – needed their power."

Yuna's face grew hot. "Sleep spell ... "

"I tried to tell them. I tried to make them stay awake, ... but they couldn't hear me anymore. And while they slept, Yevon used their lives to transform himself into the ultimate aeon – Sin. After he punished Bevelle, he returned to Zanarkand's waters and used what was left of the Fayth to summon the Dream." The boy lifted his shadowed gaze to meet hers. "You know the rest, Lady Yuna."

Yuna didn't know what to say. "I'm ... sorry for upsetting you."

"You needed to know."

"Then I guess … it's impossible to revive an already dead soul using aeon magic?"

"It's possible, but the aeon that returns to you is tainted - dark and filled with hate - a corruption of what the soul used to be. That's what happened to us when Shuyin possessed us and sent us after you. That's why Yevon couldn't control Jecht as well as he would have liked to. The real Jecht had already drowned when he was brought from the Dream to help your father and Auron. We wanted him to become the Final Aeon, instead of Auron, because we thought his not being real would help him resist being possessed by Yevon. And it worked, … kind of. He wasn't strong enough to prevent Yevon from turning him into the next Sin, but Jecht fought long enough to help us bring Tidus out of the Dream to finish the job. It didn't quite go the way we planned, but he still managed to end it once and for all." The boy touched the flower that Yuna held, but his fingers passed right through it. "A tainted aeon is also what went wrong with Yevon's creation of Sin in the first place. He didn't limit himself to the souls of the living to summon that transformation. He fed upon the hate-filled souls of the grieving and the dead from the battlefield to increase his power on the way to destroy Bevelle. Shuyin's spirit ran into him and became tainted with some of Sin's power. It's how he was able to possess so many people, like Yevon, and find his way back to Vegnagun." The ghost-like little boy rose from his place at her side and shifted to kneel in front of her, placing the tips of his fingers under her chin as if to make sure she understood him well. "Lady Yuna, to create an aeon, you must trade a living soul for a dead one. If you resurrect a dead soul as an aeon, you will be creating a very powerful fiend."

Yuna blinked at him with worry. "Then there is absolutely no safe way to resurrect someone who has died? Even if you don't want them to be an aeon?"

"That I don't know. I don't know where or how Lord Yevon learned his magic, so I don't know all the possibilities that exist. But since Tidus isn't among the living or the dead, you cannot use aeon magic to make him real. He is what he is."

"Thank you, Bahamut."

Arantisu reappeared, seated at Yuna's other side. "My daddy said he wrote instructions and recorded spheres for my mommy to learn ancient magic, but she hid them when she knew bad people were coming to take them away."

"Like how she hid her travel log in your pendant?"

"Mh." The little girl nodded and grasped the necklace that was beyond anyone's reach but her own. "He says she hid them in her bedroom in the tower on the surface."

"Tower?" Yuna blinked. "What tower?"

"The tower that they lived in, I guess." The girl shrugged, but then looked toward her tomb as it was chained and lifted out of the ground. "Woops! I gotta go! They're taking me away! See you later, Lady Yuna!" Arantisu grinned and waved before her pyreflies flew apart and one of them fled into the massive stone that her spirit was bonded to.

"Yuna, please. Don't create any new aeons," Bahamut repeated as he faded into pyreflies, too. "Not even for Tidus's sake."

"Mh." She thanked the spirit with a nod and turned toward the sound of footsteps drawing near behind her.

Gippal had returned from overseeing the preparations to lift the heavy statue. "Okay, we got her airborne momentarily and my crew can handle the rest of it from here. Brother moved the teleport sphere from the bridge to the engine room, so he's going to beam aboard the hover claw and tomb together. Then, he'll move it again and beam a remote-controlled shovel onto the deck. When he's got those in place, he'll move the teleporting sphere back to the bridge and bring us aboard."

"Sounds good." Yuna smiled and stood. "Let's go back up and tell the rest of the gang we're done down here."

Yuna and Gippal left to rejoin their friends, but as soon as she left the Farplane, the purple flower in her fingers melted into sparkles and faded.

))((

High above them on one of the rock-cliff precipices of the waterfalls, cloaked in invisibility rather than disguised as an old man, Meimo watched as Gippal's machina carried the stone disk that entombed the keeper of the key that he so coveted. "Don't you dare break it," he muttered to himself. But his eyes easily became distracted by yet another pyrefly floating past. They were all over the place down here, but which one was_ him_?

It was tempting to summon Shuyin just to chide him about having survived everything he put Kyudou and himself through during their last encounter, but Shuyin's ability to possess the living during that ordeal had proved stronger than Meimo estimated. He was wary of testing whether the Farplane had weakened the spirit's unusual skill since then. "Patience," he whispered. "There will be plenty of time to deal with you later." Smirking, Meimo drew teleporting glyphs about himself and magically returned to the Via Infinito.

Keeping the invisibility illusion, he walked the halls looking for clumps of pyreflies - prepared to fight if they began shaping themselves into anything other than the spirit he sought. "Maester Seymour, ... it is time," he spoke quietly, not knowing what else he might be inadvertently addressing. "They are finished digging up the tomb and are taking it out of the Farplane for transport to Besaid. We fixed Macalania's little problem last night, so everything there is ready. Seems it was just a matter of pruning a few trees."

The heavily robed, blue-haired figure of Seymour Guado drew itself from the pyreflies into a ghostly apparition. "Pity that such a fate hinges on a minor gardening task."

Meimo stopped walking and dispelled his illusion so that Seymour could see him clearly. "Now that the Farplane's magic is flowing into the Spring again, I need you to bring our queen directly there. Her power here is too strong, and my friend's magic there will be stronger. There will be no second chances. Once we do this, there is no turning back."

"Good." Seymour smiled. "I am not one to waste worry on regrets."

))((

As Meimo used his summoning magic to teleport to Macalania, Seymour dispersed his pyreflies and his soul sped through the layers of the infinite dungeon to seek out another eternally damned soul. He knew _how_ he would find her, he just didn't know exactly _where_.

When he came to the ghost of a woman falling through the upper level, he paused and regenerated his body from within the pyreflies. Seymour waited for her to hit the floor and watched her struggle to stand, but as she clawed frantically at the walls before turning to run away, he stepped into her path and caught her arm. "Captain Spira," he addressed her.

Her nails dug into his arm as she struggled to pull free. "Let go of me! Let go! You should not be here! Leave, or you will die a horrible fate like I did!"

"I am already dead," he allowed a few pyreflies to escape his form to prove his point. Seymour sighed at how grotesque this once-beautiful creature looked. She had long, jet-black hair and bore dark bruises under her almond-shaped eyes. Her skin was pale, her body was bone-thin, and she wore a torn, white gown. Blood glistened from wounds that would never heal.

Gazing at him with anger, Spira paused in reliving the nightmare that had mortally wounded her. "This place is full of negative energy and unrest. If you wish to rest, you must go to the Farplane. Fly to the surface of this dungeon and follow the streams of magic beneath the temple's main hall. They will lead you there," she rasped.

"While I thank you for your concern, I am not quite ready to rest yet," Seymour calmly informed her, keeping his ghostly grip on her transparent wrist. "That is a good thing for you, actually, because my living associates consult my spirit frequently, and I have just received word that your daughter has been taken to Macalania's spring."

Spira's anger morphed into fear, though her almond-shaped eyes narrowed with suspicion. "How would you know_ anything_ about my daughter?"

"I know the villain who took her. He said he was interested in stealing some maps from her. Maps of your journeys through space perhaps? At any rate, he has a friend who has learned how to channel negative energy in some rather unusual ways. I fear your daughter's soul may not survive his magic-draining touch."

Spira froze in place and reached her consciousness toward the Farplane. Though she could not physically go there, she was connected to it on a very deep level. The emptiness in the place where her daughter used to be proved he was speaking the truth. Arantisu was gone. The tortured woman grasped Seymour's robes suddenly disrupting a dust of sparkling pyreflies around them. "Please! You must go help her! She's just a baby!" she cried in desperation.

Motionless and emotionless, Seymour's gaze remained fixed on her as he gently released her from his grasp. "Madam, she is _your_ baby; not mine."

"But I cannot go! If I leave this place the energy flow will become unbalanced! I am the one that dispenses and regulates the energy that fills Spira's need for sunlight, air, water, and the Farplane itself!"

"Surely you can leave long enough to defend your daughter and then return. What's the worst that could happen? A few fiends break free? A little rain falls in the desert?"

"Not tending to the ship's energy needs will bring death!"

"Not tending to your daughter's soul will erase her from existence."

Spira shook her head and gripped her hair as her breath rapidly accelerated in panic.

"Perhaps ... I could take your place here long enough for you to tend to her needs there?" Seymour offered.

"No! I am the only one who can do this. My husband gave his life to transform me and join me to the ship. I _am_ the ship's soul!"

"Then, since I am the bearer of bad news, I am willing to travel with you. We can work together to free her from her abductor, and, if you don't object, I am willing to take her back to the safety of the Farplane, so that you can more quickly return to your duties here. But, the more we debate, the more time is wasted."

Spira swallowed in attempt to moisten her eternally parched throat. She had only seconds to choose between her duty to the ship and her daughter's fate. "Come! If you help me remove the threat, I will find some way to repay you!" The tortured soul vanished into a swirling spiral of light and sped down the tunnels of the plane of magic toward the spring in Macalania Woods.

Seymour dispersed his pyreflies and quickly followed suit.

Knowing every inch of the planetary colony ship on the most intimate level, Spira followed the flow of magic through several areas of man-made construct deep within the infrastructure. She and Seymour slammed through layers of thick metal, solid concrete, and natural rock, until the flow of magic permeated the surface of the planet's main land mass and branched in thousands of directions like large veins and tiny capillaries within some kind of organic creature's circulatory system. The spirit ahead of Seymour knew exactly which one would take them to their final destination. Eventually, rock turned into soil, and they slammed into metal again - pipes. Inside the pipes, they flowed with the stream of magic and water toward Lake Macalania. But that was when it became apparent that something wasn't right.

The pipe line was badly broken. The water flowed freely into the soil causing a muddy, unstable mess that cracked and bent other pipes, as well. Entwined with the pipes throughout the mud were massive, twisted tree roots. But, thanks to Meimo's attention to detail the night before, the water and magic flowed freely through the opened cracks into the spring's bed once more. Spira sped through the dirty water and broke the surface of the spring before using what few pyreflies were available here to take on her ghostly form once more.

"Arantisu!" Spira cried out and looked around. The magic connection here was very weak. Having the unique ability to draw _herself_ out of the magical plane and into the material world, the captain did so. Her aeon form, a beautiful woman wrapped in veils that glowed of shimmering magical glyphs, broke through the barrier between the dimensional worlds to walk freely wherever she pleased. Spira stood on the surface of the water and look around at the deserted forest. Her long silver and black hair nearly touched the back of her ankles as it flowed in a breeze that wasn't really there.

Seymour drew himself out of the water, but did not bother grasping for a form among the pyreflies as his soul hovered near ... and waited.

Meimo appeared from the shadows and slowly approached them. "Maester Seymour," he greeted them with a grin. "I suggest you retrace your steps a bit."

"Where is my daughter, you filthy waste of humanity?" Spira asked, again displaying a unique ability for an aeon - the ability to speak through the multi-layered voices of the dead. "What have you done with her?" she demanded growing angrier. "Tell me where she is, or I will claim you for the negative plane this instant!"

Meimo crossed over the roots of the one enormous tree that remained amid the faded forest. "Ah, the goddess of Spira ... in the flesh … You know, I never knew until a year ago that the Farplane was divided into opposing energy forces. I understand now that this metaphysical balance is necessary to keep the natural forces of life and death in check on Spira because of its presence, but I have always wondered why you, our dearest captain, must stay in the negative plane."

"I spare anyone else having to be there," the powerful aeon impatiently explained. "Souls who accept their death may rest in peace, and their energy flows throughout the rest of Spira to sustain life. Souls who refuse their fates fuel the negative plane, and their misery combines with mine to produce the counter forces that regulate the sustaining forces." The aeon increased in size as she spoke. "I control all the natural elements of creation and destruction on this ship. I gave you your worthless life, and I can take it away. Now _where_ is my daughter?"

Meimo remained cool in the face of the threat. "But isn't it true that when polar opposites of magical energy meet, they collapse upon each other creating a void?"

"You can't begin to understand the mystic workings at the heart of this vessel, _mortal!_" The female aeon's body began to glow with an indigo and black energy. "I want my daughter back, and I want her back _now_!"

Seymour recognized the energy she was raising. Spira's aeon was going to cast an ultima spell – perhaps the biggest ultima spell the planet had ever known. He took that as his signal to exit. Seymour's circle of light whooshed back down into the spring and pressed through the mud and between the cracks of infrastructure to get far away from Macalania as quickly as possible. Spira's journey here had been so fast as furious that he hoped he remembered the way back to the Via Infinito.

))((

Meimo's eyes narrowed, and he smiled. "I don't have your daughter, my dear Captain. It was all a set up – a lark really." He added a laugh just to add spite to his deception.

The fury of the aeon took the shape of a black cloud as she raised her hands to cast her spell. The most powerful dark magic known to Spira flashed from her fingertips toward the insolent summoner, but the moment the spell was cast, the magic in the spring water around her flared in a tremendous explosion.

After a long moment, the ripples of mass destruction died down.

At a camp site far from the lake, Meimo watched through magically enhanced binoculars as flames consumed the debris that was left around the water, and a thick, black mist floated over its surface. The vegetation immediately near the shore had been blasted away, leaving nothing but blackened, eroded rock. Even the one surviving magical tree in the center had been blown to pieces. Spira's aeon was gone without a trace. The negative energy of her ultima spell had clashed quite nicely with the positive energy of the Full-Life spell he had cast repeatedly into the spring's water the night before. Meimo, however, had not suffered so much as a scratch, thanks to his illusion. How he loved illusion arts, perhaps even more than he loved the summoning arts.

"It begins." Chuckling to himself, he stood and packed his binoculars away.


	14. Chapter 14: Black Water

Chapter 14: Black Water

When the transporting of Arantisu's tomb from the Farplane was done, everyone teleported back to the Celsius, where it was decided that Tidus needed to be teleported as soon as possible to their next stop if he was to be hidden safely away from Meimo. Gippal offered to go with him and leave his machina in the capable hands of the engineers of the Gullwings. Rikku and Paine were ready to follow, but Koji requested to stay behind to pack a few items and join them later.

Tidus responded with a snort. "What items? You don't have items."

"My sword, my healing potions, a change of clothing ..."

"You don't have clothing. That's my clothing."

Yuna laughed lightly. "It's okay. I have to stay here and tell the crew where to put the tomb in Besaid, anyway. Koji and I can catch up to you at Rin's when 'Tisu's tomb is hidden. I would never forgive myself if anything bad happened to either of you." She stepped forward to give Tidus a small kiss. "Be careful."

"I'm always careful." He grinned and kissed her back before leading the way to the teleport sphere.

"Pffft," Paine retorted as she and Rikku followed.

"If we're not at the travel agency, we'll be at the lake!" Gippal called back to them.

"I'll just run to the cabin and pack a few things in one of Tidus's bags," Koji told Yuna. "I'll catch up to you down on the beach in a few minutes."

"Okay." Pleased with this plan that was designed to keep two of her most vulnerable loved ones out of harm's way, Yuna followed everyone else out of the bridge, but then rode the lift down to the engine room along with Cid, while Brother and Buddy took the lift back up to the deck to unload the large machina shovel placed up there, for lack of other space on the airship to store it.

Koji jogged up the stairs to the loft and opened the trunk at the foot of Tidus's futon. Grabbing the remaining travel bag his friend kept there, he filled it with spare clothing and healing potions for both of them. Then, he drew from under the futon's frame a large sword he also bought fromt he village shop. He stared at it somberly for a moment, debating with himself, but then stood and strapped it on. There would probably be fiends where they were headed. He would at least be ready for them this time. Once he was finished gathering possible supplies for the unknown adventure ahead of him, he ran back through the airship and jogged down the ramp to meet everyone else on the ground below. Buddy and Brother had just managed to get the shovel down a makeshift ramp that had been teleported with the machina. Now the large blue and green hover claw floated about a knee's distance off of the ground, maintaining the balance of the stone statue chained to its robotic arm.

"Well?" Buddy asked. "Where are we going to put this thing?"

"In the middle of the _stargazing_ grass," Brother suggested with a grumble intended for Tidus to hear, had he been there.

Yuna crossed her arms and tapped a finger to her chin as she looked across the crystal blue surf toward the protrusion of some ancient remnants - the only part of Besaid's underwater ruins that rose above sea level. No one knew what it used to be, but now it made a good perch for the numerous seagulls that made their nests on it. "I want to place the tomb in the lagoon itself. Can this equipment go in the water?"

"It's not made for water," Brother protested.

"Then maybe we could take the machina up to the cliff and lower the tomb from there," she suggested.

"The hover claw can't take a flying leap off a cliff, dear," Cid answered what he thought was obvious. "They'd both drop hard and fast as a basilisk trying to be a bird."

Yuna set her fists on her hips and frowned lightly. "Then I guess Gippal didn't remember the part where I said I wanted to put the tomb _in_ water."

"Hard to think of water when _stargazing _grass is in your face," Brother stiffly mumbled.

"Maybe it's not my place to say anything," Koji spoke up. "But the easiest option seems to be casting protective spells on the machina and then taking them into the water. At least, that's how construction workers did stuff like this in Zanarkand when they worked with all that machina underwater. My dad was in the business," he added with a mild shrug as explanation for his knowledge in that field. "Then someone can stand on the cliff and direct where to put it. With a bird's-eye view, it will go more quickly, so you might be able to finish the job before the spell wears off."

Yuna smiled, thankful for the helpful input, then nodded to Cid in agreement with Koji's plan. "A nul-water spell should do the trick for a short time. Then, I'll go up to the cliff to direct you." Stepping back, she faced the hover claw and summoned the temporarily protective magic over the large machina. When it shimmered with the tell-tale, orbiting glow of success, she faced the shovel and did the same thing for it.

As Koji watched Yuna concentrate on her spells, he considered how much like Lenne she was. Not in personality, but in compassion and magic. Wearing her long brown hair swept into a simple ponytail today, she even resembled Lenne physically … a little. He smirked to himself thinking he should be trying to win the summoner's affections just for the sake of payback, … but Tidus was not Shuyin. He knew that now. And being unsent, he doubted Yuna, or anyone else, would consider him for any kind of relationship. Koji reminded himself to stay focused on his goal – resurrection.

Buddy lifted the shovel's control in his hand and punched in the commands for it to roll forward into the surf. "Into the water we go."

"Right behind you!" Cid did the same for the hover claw.

"And, I, captain and leader of the Gullwings, will watch for fiends!" Brother proudly pulled out a huge, hefty automatic gun that shimmered with magic. "Here, fishy-fishy!" he called to the ocean as he waded into the water after the machina.

Koji's brows rose. "He's going to use that over-sized impossibility to put a bullet into a piranha? How did he ever get to be your leader?"

Yuna laughed lightly. "Brother is … different," she agreed. "But if you can look beneath the surface, you'll see he truly does have a sweet heart." As her cousin, uncle, and friend swam toward the eastern cliff, she turned to face Koji. "Would you like to come with me to the cliff?" she asked as she squinted into the sun.

"Sure," he easily agreed. Koji jogged with Yuna across the sworls of tidal impressions in the sand until they came to a fork in the road and turned right. The terraced, vine-covered walls, thick, green ferns, and purple-and-white flowers made this area of Besaid seem like a jungle paradise in spite of the ancient ruins they passed in the small canyon-like area. He couldn't imagine the destruction that once took place on this island, or anywhere else, because of Sin. "It's pretty here," he commented when they slowed to a walk. "I can understand why it's Tidus's favorite spot. Besides the stars, I mean." He gave his brows a light wriggle in a joking manner.

Yuna laughed lightly at his complimentary teasing. "It must be strange for you to know him so well, even though you just met."

"I feel like I've known him since we were kids. And … I guess I have, really. Tidus looks like Shuyin. He acts like him and knows everything he did, but he's not the same person. I can tell he's not. And yet, … I can tell there's a part of him that is."

"It was a bit confusing for all of us, too, at first. It was heartbreaking to realize he wasn't real – that he was more like the Fayth, … whatever that means." Yuna found herself having more difficulty than usual saying that. "But when he came back to us, none of that mattered. I was just so happy to have him back." She smiled. "His memories of being Shuyin didn't really come back to him until last year, though. Before that he was unable to remember if he even had siblings or friends. When he found out about the connection to Shuyin, Tidus was afraid to awaken that part of himself – afraid he'd turn back into him. But now he realizes he is his own person, in spite of where he came from."

Koji came to a stop with her at the edge of the cliff overlooking the clear blue lagoon. "But you're saying he's can _awaken_ Shuyin?"

"Tidus has Shuyin's memories, so he can recall exactly what Shuyin experienced as if he had lived through it himself. But he also has the ability to summon his spirit, similar to the way a summoner can call aeons. With two souls in one body, Tidus can use Shuyin's magic. It's rather complicated," she added with a smile, knowing that sounded crazy. "And … very dangerous. If they join forces like that, they can't voluntarily separate again." Yuna visibly saddened. "We nearly lost Tidus the last time Shuyin tried to save him. Meimo tried to send him to the Via Infinito, so Shuyin's help was necessary, but … that's why it's best if Tidus doesn't have to rely on Shuyin's help. That's why we can't risk Meimo finding him again. Tidus does great using his sword and a few spells to fortify his speed against fiends, but when it comes to Meimo … he's just better off hiding. He can't fight the plane of magic if he's sent there." The gravity of her boyfriend's situation was clearly weighing heavy on her.

About the only thing Koji could offer her in consolation was a sympathetic expression. His gaze shifted down to the lagoon as the machina, tomb, and three Al-Bhed came into view in the water. Fear of leaving the material world for the plane of magic was something he could relate to, but not on that kind of level. Perhaps he wasn't so envious of Tidus being an illusion after all.

Yuna cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled over the edge of the cliff toward the water. "Brother! Do you see that dome-like structure that's half-buried toward the back falls?"

"Black falls?" he called back.

"Can you put it under the dome?" She yelled as loud as her naturally soft voice would permit.

"Under the dome! Rogeruuuu!" He gave her a thumbs-up and dove under the water to relay her instructions to Cid and Buddy.

The breeze was beginning to feel a little chilly. Koji rubbed his arms and looked up at the sky to see gray clouds passing in front of the sun. Then, he looked to Yuna and saw that she was doing the same. Her brow knit with curiosity for a fleeting moment, but then neither of them paid the clouds any mind as they watched Cid work the hover claw to set down the tomb and pry up the broken dome. When that failed, all they could do was pull the dome completely off.

))((

Brother swam into the ruins to inspect the area before placing the tomb. Sand and sediment had filled what looked to be a fairly empty area, so he swam back out and gave the signal to go ahead. Cid had the hover claw lift the stone tomb once more and the robotic arm carefully inserted the large disk into the bottom of the buried building. Once it was adjusted into a level placement and the claw backed off, Buddy sent in the shovel to heap more sand and sediment from the bottom of the lagoon over it. This aeon was never meant to be found again. Brother burbled a warning to his father and friend, and fired his gun into an approaching school of fish with wide-mouths that were jam-packed with long, spiked teeth. When they were no longer a problem, he signaled Cid and Buddy to continue their work.

))((

As they were finishing the task, and Cid used the hover claw to replace the dome back over the walls of the structure, Yuna took note of a large shadow passing over the water. Again, she lifted her eyes to the sky, thinking it must be an unusually large cloud. But when the cloud above did not match the shadow below, she realized the source of darkness wasn't over the water. It was under it. "Brother! There's something large approaching behind you! Brother!" she tried to warn them. She turned to Koji with worry. "It's probably that giant squid!"

Koji looked over the cliff and confirmed her suspicion with an anxious nod. "We need to help them get out of there – fast!" He raced back down the path toward the beach's eastern surf and dove in.

Yuna sprinted after him. She stopped at the shore, hesitating to get her clothes wet. Then, she realized she was wearing her white magic sphere. Considering that the squid packed a very powerful venom, her Esuna spells would probably be needed. Yuna drew in her biggest breath possible and splashed into the water.

Koji found Brother and gestured for him to hurry and move the machina back to the shore. Then, he pointed toward the large, dark shadow heading toward them in the distance. Brother raised his gun and aimed, but Koji knocked it down and pointed toward the machina. Brother gestured in argument and raised the gun again, but Koji was adamant. He pushed the gun aside and drew his sword on him to enforce his opinion on the priorities of this situation. Brother was peeved, but he swam with Koji ahead of the other two men and the slow-moving machina to guard them on their way back to the land. The rapidly approaching squid was fully visible now and would be upon them before they could reach the shallow water.

One tentacle ripped the shovel out of the way and crushed it like an aluminum can. Buddy raced toward the shore with Cid hot on his heels. Brother fired his gun into one of the thick, coiled appendages that snapped toward them as they slipped through its grasp. Another tentacle slammed down on the hover claw, pounding it into the sand with such force that what part of it wasn't instantly driven into the ground like a spike buckled flat like the spike's head.

Yuna had never seen a squid reach such proportions!

While concentrating on trying to aim his gun at the moving tentacles, Brother was snagged by serrated suckers and wrapped in a constrictive death grip. It didn't take long for him to begin losing his struggle. Koji swam to free him by using his sword to hack through the rubbery flesh until Brother was freed. Yuna swam to catch him as he fell. Holding him in her arms, she looked to Koji who signaled her to go on without him. Worried for Brother's life and her own lungs burning for air, she cast an Esuna spell on him and towed him straight up through the water. Yuna broke the surface with a loud gasp to catch her breath, and she awkwardly struggled to pull Brother up for air too, before his unconscious condition drowned him. Reviving him with Life magic was the only answer.

"What ... what ..." He gasped and coughed up water as he came to.

"Swim to shore!" She pointed to where she could see Cid and Buddy emerging from the water to run back onto the land. "I'm going back for Koji!"

"Why should you worry about Koji? Koji is already dead!" Brother argued with her reasoning.

"We wouldn't have left Auron down there to struggle alone!"

"Then we go together!"

"You don't have your gun! If I have to try to heal both of you -!"

"Strength in numbers! We go _together_!" he angrily shouted. "Tidus would _no how_ let Yuna go down there to face squid alone!"

Yuna blinked in astonishment at the ferocity of his insistence. Without wasting further precious time, she drew another deep breath and dove under the water. A black ink suddenly flooded the area around the squid. Yuna realized she had no idea which direction she was heading anymore. A hand reached through the inky substance, and Brother led her by following the sparkling stream of magic that became visible in the squid's attempt to cloak its whereabouts.

As they drew closer, the ink began to thin. Yuna could now see the outline of the squid once more. It had one tentacle wrapped around Koji, holding him very still. Koji didn't even seem to be struggling and a few stray pyreflies were beginning to drift away, being drawn back toward the stream of magic. Yuna wondered if they were too late to save him from the venom. There was no way Yuna could fight that monster on her own, not even with Brother at her side. And she probably needed to conserve her magical energy to be able to cast a few more Life spells. So, she summoned her white magic rod and begin drawing arcane, colored glyphs in the water around her.

Brother knew what she was doing and stayed out of her way, but stared at her in astonishment while she was doing it.

A blinding light flashed through the darkness of the remaining ink in the water and another shape took form within the circles of the evocation. Thousands of silk-like strands drawn from the magical stream wove themselves around each other, and the gleaming white scales on Arantisu's dragon-aeon body burst into reality, answering the call of her summoner. The baby dragon had never been in any major fights - just a few dingos and water fiends here and there - but she twisted around in the water without question and shot toward the squid, until it snatched her with a long tentacle.

Brother spotted his gun wedged between some rocks and ruins on the floor of the lagoon and dove for it. As soon as he had it back in his hands, he checked the charge and aimed toward the squid once more.

Yuna panicked and tried to think of a spell – any spell – that could help, but just when she was sure that Koji was already lost to them, he snapped out of his listlessness enough to cast his own defensive magic. Long black spines projected through his skin piercing the tentacle that held him. As soon as the jagged spines punctured the squid's arm, it released him. Koji was free.

The little dragon copied Koji's example and cast a simple ice spell, drawing a large shard of ice through the water to stab the squid's appendage that held her. As the tentacle recoiled, the dragon was able to claw and bite her way free from the rest of it. The aeon waited for Koji to rejoin Yuna and Brother and then lagged behind them as they all swam toward the shore.

Koji managed to drag himself out of the water and drop to his hands and knees in the wet sand beside his sword before the venom began to weaken him, … again.

Yuna surfaced and half-swam, half-ran to his side. "Koji! Koji!" Falling into place beside him, she cast Esuna over him to neutralize the toxin in his system. Then, she cast a Curega spell to heal his cuts and bruises. "Are you okay?"

"I am now," he gasped.

Brother dropped his gun and fell into the sand with exhaustion. "I thought I was dead for sure! Yuna saved me!"

Yuna was quiet for a moment then gave him a small smile. "You almost drowned looking out for me. I couldn't let you drown."

"I was drowning?" Brother was thoughtful for a brief moment. "Did you give me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?"

"Uh, … n-no."

He coughed loudly and then fell back dramatically in the sand. "I can't breathe! I can't breathe! I need mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!"

Yuna sighed and shook her head. Same old Brother. "Actually, it was Koji who saved all of us. Thank you, … Koji," she told him with sincerest, although breathless, gratitude.

"That does it!" Cid boomed. "I'm blasting that thing into yesterday morning!" He stood to march back to the ship.

"No!" Koji scrambled to his feet and grabbed the back of Cid's shirt. "Don't kill it!"

Buddy stood and approached Koji as rivulets of water still trickled from his hair down into his face. "What? We can't leave that thing out there! Kids swim on this beach! Boats travel back and forth to Kilika and Luca from these docks!"

"It hasn't attacked anyone or anything yet that didn't go near those ruins! Maybe it's just being territorial for some reason. That could be a good thing if you don't want anyone finding Arantisu's tomb, right?"

Yuna stopped trying to rub the wet sand from her arm, and her eyes widened with fear. "Arantisu!" She had forgotten about the aeon. Standing, she turned to face the surf once more and saw the baby dragon slowly limping through the shallow water toward them. "'Tisu!" She ran back into the water to meet the aeon half-way and hugged her reptilian neck. "I'm so sorry to summon you into a fight like that. That fiend was too strong for you."

The dragon gave a throaty growl, dropped into the sand to lie down, and spread her wings hoping to warm them in the sun.

"No, no. There's poison in your wounds. You can't stay here. Go home and rest now. Rest and heal." Yuna stepped back and waved her magic staff to erase the bonds that called the aeon to her.

In disappointment, but definitely needing the rest, Arantisu quietly accepted her banishment once more.

"I say we kill it dead, and we kill it dead now!" Cid angrily repeated.

Yuna stared in the direction of the lagoon. What made the creature stay so near, but only in that one place? She couldn't help but agree with Cid that the thing needed to be destroyed, but she supposed Koji had a good point about it making a nice watchdog for Arantisu's tomb, making sure no one ventured near it. As a bound spirit, the fiend wouldn't be able to hurt her. Tisu would just have to be careful not to approach her tomb while in her aeon-dragon form. But if they allowed the monster to live, they would have to make it clear to everyone else on the island that the lagoon beach was absolutely off-limits, and that might unintentionally give away their secret.

The waves that followed them onto the shore were beginning to form the tell-tale white caps of an approaching storm, and now that the sun was almost completely hidden in cloud cover. Yuna was drawn from her thoughts concerning the giant squid to realize how unusually cold she felt. Folding her arms over her white magic dress, which now clung to her like a wet tissue, she stood and approached Cid. "We need to let it live, ... for now, but this area should be watched carefully to make sure no one else gets hurt." She glanced over her shoulder to Koji. "We should go now. Tidus and the others will be waiting."

Koji nodded in somber agreement, pushed himself up to stand, and followed Yuna away from the Gullwings to reclaim his bag of supplies before following her to Macalania.

))((

When Tidus, Gippal, Rikku, and Paine arrived at Rin's Travel Agency near Lake Macalania, Shinra was sitting in the shop's rocking chair waiting for them, but he was so loaded with packed equipment that he could barely make the chair rock. "It took you guys long enough."

"Yeah, well, we had stuff to take care of first." Tidus wandered to the rack of heavy robes and coats - useless items now that Macalania had no snow. He moved to the shelves of snow boots and nog, and he pulled down one of the jugs to pop the cork and sniff it. The aroma made him draw back with a sharp wince. "Ugh, Auron's poison ..." Bad memories of his one and only experience drinking the stuff came back to him and he promptly put it back on the shelf.

Rikku looked around at the normally lively shop and took note of how dark, quiet, and dusty it had become. "Hey, where is everybody?"

"The temple sank, it's been warming up here ever since Shiva was sent, and the forest has almost faded away." Shinra rocked back and forth trying to pull forward to stand, but he couldn't succeed because the weight of his load pulled him backwards in the moving chair. "Nothing is left but swamp, so it's dangerous hiking in some places that used to be passable before. Nobody comes here anymore, for pilgrimages or anything else, so Rin had to close the shop. The teleporting sphere still works, though."

"So, what are you all suited up like that for?" Gippal walked to the counter and casually leaned an elbow on it to snicker at the boy's inability to get out of the rocking chair, rather than offering to help. "Are we going to the moon or something?"

Shinra stopped struggling against the rocker. "There was an explosion out there earlier this morning - a big explosion. It was just me here, so I didn't want to go out by myself and see what it was. It can't be a good sign, so I'm prepared for anything. I've got flood grenades in case we need to put out fires. I've got an inflatable raft in case we need to cross a flood. I've got charms to repel certain fiends from this region. And I've got my lab equipment to sample marsh gases."

Paine grabbed his wrists, pulling him out of the rocking chair. "Then let's check it out."

"What about Yuna and Koji?" Tidus asked, picking up a chalkboard that had prices of items scrawled on it. A short search revealed the location of the chalk as well, so he sat down on the polar bear rug, erased the prices with his hand, and began to doodle.

"They know the way to the spring don't they? At least Yunie should," Rikku answered.

"Don't be so sure. She wasn't exactly paying attention to the path when I went in there to talk to her." Tidus gave her a mischievous grin and wriggled his brows before returning to his doodle.

Shinra gave an impatient sigh. "Even if Yuna wasn't being disoriented due to Tidus's lips being all over her face -"

"Hey," he looked up, insulted. "Don't make me sound like one of those vacuum-cleaner kissers. You weren't even there."

"Previous knowledge might not be enough to find her way around now because some of the old paths aren't passable," Shinra repeated.

"Then I'll wait for them here, and you guys can leave a trail for us to find you – no problem." Tidus shrugged as if the answer were that simple.

"I don't think you should wait here alone," Paine disagreed. "I don't think you should be anywhere alone, until Meimo is back in the dungeons of Bevelle. Sorry, pal, you're coming with us." She snagged Tidus's arm and pulled him up from the rug.

"Wait, wait - I'm not done yet." He pulled his arm back and quickly scribbled on the chalkboard to conclude his masterpiece.

Paine sighed and folded her arms. "Please tell me it's not another squid."

"Nope." He grinned and turned it around for everyone to see.

All four of his friends wore blank expressions.

"It's a … rabbit-cat?" Paine guessed. "No, wait. A dog. But what's that stuff coming out of its throat?"

Tidus turned the chalkboard toward himself. "That's not stuff coming out of its throat. Those are arms choking it to death. It's Rikku's demon monkey."

Rikku snapped the chalkboard out of his hands and thumped the back of his head with it. "Just for that, I'm going to summon Ghiki as soon as my garment grid gets fixed."

Tidus mouthed the word "ow" and rubbed the back of his head as Paine snagged his shirt and pulled him toward the door.

"Actually, your garment grid is fixed," Shinra told Rikku. "I have it in my pack somewhere. I brought it so someone could give it back to you because I didn't know if you'd be coming. I'll give it to you once we reach the spring."

Gippal and Tidus exchanged uneasy glances before Paine opened the door and pulled Tidus through it. He was about to protest Rikku getting her grid back when he looked around and realized how much Macalania had changed since he last saw it.

Instead of ice floes and snow, the road to Bevelle was muddy and the road to the temple was completely gone. The swollen lake and bare rock gorges of the region were now fully visible. It might have even been pretty if it weren't for the fact that it all somehow looked so … dead. The water was murky and looked stagnant. The crystallized trees that were beginning to fade a year ago were mostly gone, and the ordinary evergreen and deciduous varieties left behind had gray trunks and bare branches. Many of them had been uprooted and toppled because of mud slides or root rot. Brown marsh grass had sprouted in the low lying puddles where the lake had overflowed, and the blue, crystallized magic that once dotted the landscape everywhere was completely gone. Normally, one could not see far into the forest because it was so shrouded that it was like an eternal night. But now, though the sun was clouded over, daylight showed every barren detail. A thick fog seemed to creep between the dead trees and hang like a white veil.

Paine saddened and released her grip on Tidus's shirt. "Wow. I didn't realize it was this bad." She took a step forward, but her boot sank in the mud as if trying to suck her down and hold her there. Her brows drew together in remorse, and she turned to face her friends, wondering whether this was even worth trying to solve.

"Told ya it was bad," Shinra spoke as he, Rikku, and Gippal followed them out.

"Looks like we might need a little back-up blazing a new trail and repairing the damage." Gippal gestured for them to wait while he went back inside.

Tidus turned around in his place to view the damage while they waited. Except for the sounds of their own feet in the mud, Macalania's woods were eerily silent.

A few minutes later, Gippal returned. He had used the teleporter to briefly return to Bevelle and came back accompanied by three different kinds of machina assemblies that rattled and clanked in line behind him. "Okay, troops! Let's go see what we're dealing with here." Gippal programmed one of the machina to lead the way beside him, so it could cut down overgrowth and fallen branches. Fortunately, they didn't have to go too far into the heart of the forest to reach the grove where the northern tip of the spring was located.

This end of the spring used to be filled with waterfalls that flowed both from the southern end of the spring and the crystal tree in the center. The magic in the water had crystallized over the very widespread, gnarled roots that twisted over each other hardening into a solid, walkable surface with a shallow pool. This pool had served as the main collection point for most of the water that was used to fill memory spheres. Some of that magic had condensed into translucent prong-like crystals giving the grove the appearance of a moonlit geode. Pyreflies used to float freely through the transparent, glass-like surface of the water up into the air and land as crystallized dust underfoot that actually lingered long enough to be kicked around. Now, there were no pyreflies visible, the solid crystal surface had melted, and the overgrown path had become so marshy that they found themselves standing ankle-deep in mud and water.

Rikku gasped. "Look!"

Gippal halted his bush-whacking machina and lifted his chin to follow the line of her pointed finger.

Everyone was astonished to see that the grove was now void of any vegetation. The giant crystal tree had completely vanished, but shards of it had shot in all directions, sticking into the trunks of the other trees like hundreds of pieces of crystal shrapnel. Scorch marks marred what was left of the debris around it, and the spring itself was now a murky black color. The air smelled heavily of ozone indicating magic had been to blame in some way.

Seeking spots of dry ground and rocks, Shinra hopped ahead of Gippal and dropped to his knees by the side of the shallow spring to look at the still, black water. Shrugging off his backpack and digging out his supplies, he dipped a test tube into the liquid, swirled it around, and put it under a fancy scope for analysis.

"Looks like we found the site of the explosion, if not the source." Paine shook her head in amazement at the power behind the blast.

"What could have done this?" Tidus asked in remorseful awe.

"Most of it is natural erosion," Shinra answered as he awaited the scope's analysis of the liquid. "When the aeon was sent to the Farplane, the heavy ice and crystallized magic melted and shifted in the warmer temperatures. Like when glaciers scrape down the sides of mountains, chunks of rock and crystal cracked and broke loose, bringing down trees and reshaping the land. The melting ice in the lake overflowed to cause flooding. Then, sediment and rocks and stuff from the floods were swept back into the spring and lake to collect on the bottom. Softer ground normally means trees can grow deeper, stronger roots, but the excess water did more harm than good in most of these cases. That much is obvious."

"Yeah, but there's nothing left of the tree in the middle." Tidus picked a crystal shard out of a nearby dead conifer's trunk and examined it. "Even blowing it up should have left some roots. You know?"

"The tree in the spring was the only crystal formation that was actually thriving in spite of the changes. I meant to study it the next time I came, but now it's too late. I was more interested in trying to collect as much of the solid crystals and spring water as possible for my experiments, ... before it all disappeared."

"I'll check out the deep end and see if it's the same there." Gippal directed his machina bots over the difficult terrain around the spring, taking a short cut by chopping away more overgrowth and walking across the fallen logs because the winding paths through the heart of the forest would have taken just as long or longer to traverse. When he reached the southern end, he halted the machina and drew close to the water's edge, crouching to peer into the depths. "Can't see a thing," he commented as Paine drew near and tried to spot any place in the spring where the black mist did not cloud the view below.

"Looks like trying to get to the bottom of this mess is going to get ugly," she agreed.

Gippal stood and turned to one of his machina. He disconnected a watcher that had been riding piggy-back on a larger soldier and switched it on to bring it to life. Then, he released it and pulled the remote control from his pocket to make the watcher dip and dive under the surface of the water.

Rikku huddled close to Tidus and looked around with worry as they picked their way across the sinking grass, deep puddles, and fallen logs to Gippal and Paine. Finally, she could stand it no more and reached to the tail of his shirt, clutching it in a fist. "This is really creepy," she whined.

"At least it's not dark," he answered. "If it were dark, then something might jump from behind a tree and do THIS!" Tidus wrapped his arms around her head and growled like a fiend.

Rikku screamed and jumped back, but then smacked his arm and gave him a push for trying to scare her.

Paine laughed lightly at Rikku's momentary vulnerability and Tidus's twisted humor, but then moved to Gippal's side to study the small screen he was working with as he attempted to explore the bottom of the spring.

"Stop breathing down my neck. I'm working here," Gippal quipped in annoyance.

Lifting a brow at being scolded, Paine leaned closer and blew across the back of his neck.

"Woah!" Gippal jumped, rubbed the back of his neck, and stared at her with surprise.

Paine smirked. "Just thought you needed a reminder about the difference between being accused of it and actually doing it. 'Course a certain amount of that can't be helped if I'm looking over your shoulder and your shorter than I am." She folded her arms, daring him to scold her again.

"Shake it off, man," Tidus told him. "I get that from her and Wakka all the time. Well, … not the blowing on the neck thing. I meant the short jokes."

Gippal gave Paine a mild look of warning, then turned his attention back to the small monitor in his hand. After a moment, however, he sighed with disappointment. "Damn. That totally killed any interest I had in scummy pond water."

Tidus chuckled. "Don't you hate it when that happens."

Rikku poked a finger into Gippal's shoulder. "Well, you just put your mind right back on scummy pond water, mister. You need to fix this spring so we can _leave_, okay?"

"I was minding my own business. _She's_ the one that ..." Gippal's voice trailed off as the watcher reached the bottom of the spring and its light displayed something other than black water. "We got something."

Everyone clustered around him to see.

"Lots of debris and sediment," he noted. "Rocks, ... ordinary tree branches ..."

"Wait, ... what's that?" Paine pulled his hand toward her and pointed to the lower corner of the screen. "Can you make it swim backwards?"

Gippal used the remote to backtrack the watcher. "Looks like ... a pipe. That's got to be the inflow from the main sea line." He looked up at the vacant center of the black water for a moment and considered what Shinra had been talking about. Then, he gave a snort of amusement and turned to face his three friends. "I think I know why the memory water has been losing its magic. When tree roots grow too big, they can break up sidewalks, roads, and even the cornerstones of buildings. That crystal tree's roots were so big and so tightly packed that when the temple's aeon left, it probably had a hard time getting enough magic to feed itself. Since it wasn't getting Shiva's magic anymore, it probably dug deeper into the bottom of the lake, into the rock layer below it and into the pipe carrying magic coming in from the Farplane. That would explain why it was thriving under conditions that were killing all the rest. It was monopolizing the inflow, siphoning off the magic in the water and sucking it all up for itself." Gippal was quite proud of himself for figuring out the problem. "I'm a genius."

Rikku giggled lightly. "What a sneaky little piggy-tree."

"That still doesn't explain what happened to the tree and the water," Paine pointed out. "And since the tree isn't hogging it anymore, shouldn't the magic be flowing into the water again?"

"Since the tree has been blown to smithereens, the magic _should_ be coming through the cracks and inflow line again," Gippal agreed. "We need to take a closer look at what's under that crack and see if the blockage damaged the infrastructure, but at least we don't have to saw off the roots that dug into the pipes. All we have to do is patch up the damage to get things flowing in the right direction again."

Shinra approached from the other side of the spring, and he carried his sample with him. "This water has heavy traces of anti-meta particles in it."

"Anti-meta?" Tidus knelt and reached to stick his fingers into it.

"Don't touch it!" Shinra shouted in alarm and grabbed Tidus's shirt and backpack to pull him away.

Startled at the normally quiet kid's outburst, Tidus fell off-balance and nearly fell into the water in spite of the warning. Rikku caught his arm and helped him scoot back higher on the embankment. "Geeze! Don't yell at me like that!" he fussed at Shinra. "It's not like I was going to take a dive into the black lagoon here. Besides, _you _touched it, and it didn't do anything to you."

"This water is charged with anti-magic, Tidus. It's loaded with the same kind of negative energy in found in Osmose spells."

"That's bad, … right?" Rikku guessed.

Shinra tried to think of a simple way to explain the gravity of this newly discovered dilemma. "Put it this way. It's the one acting like a vacuum cleaner now, sucking away any magic that touches it," he answered, looking at Tidus.

Tidus's lips parted in astonishment at realizing how close he had come to being accidentally vaporized. Scooting even further away from the menacing black pool, he wrapped his arms around his knees and exhaled with uncomfortable relief.

"But it's not just sucking magic away from the inflow," Shinra continued. "Since it's been circulating through the outflow, it's probably sucking magic away from the Farplane, too."


	15. Chapter 15: Impossible Quest

Chapter 15: Impossible Quest

Yuna and Koji arrived at the teleporter inside Rin's Travel Agency to find themselves standing alone in the dark, surprised to see the shop so deserted. "That's strange. I wonder if they even came here yet, or if they stopped somewhere else along the way."

Koji spotted the chalkboard drawing on the counter and lifted it thinking it was a message left behind, but then snorted with amusement. "They've been here." He showed the chalkboard to Yuna. "He never could draw monkeys." Though he found the drawing funny, Koji couldn't help but think of the monkey drawings on the notes he found in Lenne's drawer - the ones passed between her and Shuyin that had alerted him to the fact that they were having an affair behind his back. Quietly putting the drawing down, he turned and followed Yuna to the door.

"They must have gone on to the lake, already," she guessed with a smile. When they stepped outside, however, the smile was washed away by a speechless, gut-wrenching gasp.

Koji had never been to Macalania, not even in his own time, so he had no idea what to expect. But the devastation of the lake and woods was obviously much greater than Yuna anticipated. He started to say something in hopes of easing her shock – comforting her – but then realized there probably were no words of comfort for something like this.

The moment of silence was broken, however, when he heard something jump from the roof of the travel agency and land in the moist, impressionable mud behind them. Expecting to face off against a fiend, Koji spun on the predator and drew his sword. "Stay back!" he warned as he shielded Yuna.

"Urr?" A fuzzy orange monkey with a striped blue and white tail blinked back at him.

"Oh, … Ghiki." Yuna sighed with sad relief.

Koji looked at her with doubt. "You ... know this thing?"

"Ghiki is Rikku's familiar from her trainer sphere. He's like a magical pet. He won't hurt you, ... unless you try to take something away from him that he really likes."

The monkey rose to his hind legs and struck a ninja pose, waiting for Koji's next move.

Koji sighed with disgust at the idiotic challenge and slid the heavy sword back into its sheath.

Yuna approached the monkey and squatted before it. "Do you know where Rikku is?"

The monkey chittered and jumped up and down nodding its head. Then, it bounded past them toward the woods, paused and looked back, then bounded forward again.

"We have to follow," Yuna translated as she hurried after him.

Koji and Yuna tried to keep up with the small, nimble primate as they ran through the swampy marsh toward the northern grove. Their path became precariously narrow, slippery, and littered with debris as they pressed further into the forest until they came to the southern grove. Then, the debris even disappeared, giving way to a stark, muddy, black lake. Though he had never seen the lake in its previous glory, it was apparent even to him that some kind of unfathomable disaster had taken place here.

"Tidus!" Yuna cried out with relief as soon as she saw her friends.

The monkey ran straight to Tidus, who had been sitting against a rock some distance away from the others … and the black water. It jumped onto his shoulder, pounded a tiny fist on his head and pointed toward Yuna with a shrill scree.

"What the -" Tidus was startled by the monkey's attack and tried to swat it away.

Ghiki bared his teeth, clenched Tidus's hair between his toes, and hung upside-down in his face to box both cheeks at the same time.

"Okay, that does it!" Tidus pried the monkey out of his hair and wrestled with it until he stood, holding it at arm's length by its tail. "How about a swim in the black lagoon, you freaky little hairball?"

"Don't you dare!" Rikku tried to rescue her monkey from his grasp.

Tidus held it above his head, out of her reach, and thrust a hand to her shoulder to prevent her from coming any closer. "Did you see what he did to me?"

"He was letting you know that Yuna was here."

"He slapped me in the face."

"Because you slapped at him!"

"After he hit me and pulled my hair!"

"Tidus," Koji interrupted their argument. "It's just a little monkey, dude."

"_Just_ a little monkey? Then you take him!" The monkey was abruptly dumped into Koji's arms. Then, Tidus stood back and waited for the mini-tornado to launch another attack.

Ghiki climbed onto Koji's shoulder and hugged his neck, as if scared to death.

Koji blinked at the quivering little monkey. After a moment, he scratched Ghiki's chin and received a light chitter and squeak in response. "I don't think the monkey's the one with the issues, man. I saw that death-threat-chalk-doodle of yours back at the agency."

"Aw, come on!" Tidus complained at the monkey's act of innocence. "He should be sticking his fingers up your nose or stealing money out of your pocket by now. That little buttmunch has it out for me, I tell you. Ask Gippal - he knows."

Rikku set her fists on her hips and stood nose-to-nose with Tidus. "It's because the two of you kidnapped him for a hover ride and locked him up in a chocobo ranch." She lifted Ghiki from Koji's shoulder and snuggled the monkey close while it continued to make whimpering sounds. Both of them stuck their tongues out at Tidus in unison.

"What? See! Did everyone see that?" Tidus pointed at the accused monkey and looked to see if Koji believed him now.

"Hey, Ghiki enjoyed that hover ride." Gippal came into the conversation and elbowed Tidus with a grin as he removed his gloves. "We heard him screaming in excitement the whole way there."

Koji chuckled and nodded in greeting, certain that wasn't the whole truth.

Yuna slipped her arms around Tidus's waist. After such a harrowing morning, it felt good to be back in his arms again. "Did you find out what the problem is?" she asked of Gippal.

Tidus calmed at the gestured, but continued to scowl at the monkey in Rikku's arms.

Gippal grimaced slightly. "The roots of the tree that used to be in the center dug deep enough to crack open the pipes and drain the magic out of the incoming water. For some reason, however, the tree was destroyed - roots and all - and now the water is just one big magic-draining pool."

Yuna blinked at Gippal as if waiting for the punchline of a joke, but when it didn't come, she looked to Tidus and Rikku for confirmation. "Anti-magic? The whole lake?"

Tidus turned to Koji. "Yeah, stay away from the water. You and me, since we're nothing but magic, we'll get sucked into oblivion if we touch it. Shinra thinks it might even be draining the Farplane."

"What? How?" Yuna released Tidus and moved around him near to where Shinra and Paine sat at the water's edge doing more lab tests.

Koji frowned and moved a few steps closer to the water to see for himself, but stayed a safe distance from the edge. "Magic water that destroys magic?"

"Yes. Incoming magic will be dissolved on contact," Shinra explained. "But the outflowing water cycles throughout Spira, so it's probably already polluting other streams of magic. And all streams of magic eventually connect to the Farplane."

Yuna stared at the black water with worry. "You have to do something. Can't you fix the pipe? You fixed all the other ones below Bevelle."

"This isn't Bevelle," Gippal answered. "There's no crawlspace under there. Draw away the water and mud and you get more mud and rock. There's no way to know how deep it goes before it hits the ship's core, so drilling might do more harm than good."

"But if the magic of the Farplane is drained away, Spira will die!"

"Yuna." Gippal placed his hands on her shoulders to calm her. "I'm the one trying to prevent this crazy-ass bucket of rust from falling apart, remember?" He turned and faced the ominous-looking lake. "I know what will happen if we fail. Our best shot probably lies in finding a way to confine the contamination. If we can cut off outflow and block inflow, we can drain the water and look at the physical damage done to the pipes near the surface. Then, we can try to fix them. The problem is that blocking the flow of magic isn't as simple as blocking the flow of water. And there's no safe place to put the tainted water once we drain it."

Koji watched everyone agonize over this dilemma for a moment. "Drain it out into space," he suggested.

Gippal lifted his chin. "And how would you propose we do that?"

Koji shrugged. "You're the engineer. I'm just trying to brainstorm a solution."

Gippal sighed in disappointment. "It's not a solution unless it's doable. Maybe Zanarkand had a way of launching barrels of liquid trash into outer space, but we don't." He started pacing as he tried to think of other possible options. "And each second that passes is one second of magic lost," he grumbled and ran a hand over his short, spiky hair.

"It used to be so beautiful," Yuna softly lamented.

"What about freezing it?" Koji tried again.

Gippal stopped pacing. The others could practically see the gears in his head turning as he considered the possibility. "Everything was frozen or crystallized when the Fayth was at the temple. Making it solid would at least keep it from spreading, but it would take too much time to install a coolant system."

"The composition of the pool isn't the same as it used to be," Shinra spoke as he continued to work on his water samples and other chemical additives, which Paine patiently located and handed to him to speed things along. "And warm temperatures didn't cause this - magic did."

Yuna frowned. "You think someone did this on purpose?"

"I'm almost positive," the boy answered. "Although, I see no reason why. There couldn't have been any benefit in contaminating this water or damaging the Farplane."

Gippal continued thinking aloud. "If it was a solid, we could cut and lift it out of there in chunks." He grimaced and scrubbed his head as if that would help make a connection he was missing. "It's almost a shame we don't have Meimo here to show us how he nullified the anti-magic on his bracers. Magic that can drain anti-magic without igniting sure would come in handy right now."

"How did it go with moving Arantisu's tomb?" Paine asked, breaking her contemplative silence.

"Okay, I guess," Yuna answered. "The tomb is under the dome beneath the waterfalls at the back of the lagoon. It should be hidden for a nice long time. But … we were attacked by the giant squid again while setting it in place."

Paine frowned. "Did you kill it this time?"

Yuna glanced toward Koji before answering her. "It seems to be staying in only one area, so we decided to let it live for now, … as a kind of watchdog."

Paine made a face. "You're letting it live? Do you have any idea the damage a thing that big could do to one of the ships?"

"But it hasn't gone after any ships," Koji inserted. "It's only attacked people swimming close to those underwater ruins."

She couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're one of those people it attacked. How can you defend letting it live?"

"If it's already guarding a nest, or something, then it might make a good guard for the aeon's tomb. Anyone wanting to cast a spell underwater to unlock that rock will have to wrestle their way past that thing first."

The warrior woman shook her head, still clearly unhappy about it. "Well, at least I cut off a few arms to weaken it. It won't be forgetting me any time soon."

Yuna became puzzled. "Really? It had all of its arms when we fought it."

"_Fiend_," Pain confirmed. "Definitely feeding off of all the pyreflies in that area to restore itself. Maybe Gippal should take this stuff back to Besaid and dump it on the squid. Two birds - one stone."

Gippal chuckled at her contribution. "Yeah, okay. Except draining tainted water from a small spring and dumping it in a large ocean kinda misses the whole point of containment."

Paine shrugged. "One less giant squid."

Yuna rubbed a chill from her arms. "While waiting for them to dig up the tomb, I was able to speak to Arantisu and Bahamut. Arantisu said her father did leave magical instructions behind for her mother, in a tower on the surface. She didn't specify where, though, so that's not much help."

"Zanarkand had many, many towers," Koji agreed. "But if we can't do anything to help here, and the aeon confirmed that Maedra had a sphere, maybe we should go ahead with our search for it," he hesitantly suggested.

Yuna sighed with uncertainty. "I'm … not so sure we should now. When Tidus and I talked to Baralai this morning, we decided Lady Yunalesca was probably the last person to use Yevon's notes on aeon magic. We think she might have hidden them in Bevelle, instead, so Baralai is going to search the temple for us. I'm sorry, Koji. I should have told you before you packed your bags, but I guess I was distracted thinking about Arantisu's tomb."

He shifted the bag on his shoulder and shrugged. "No problem. We could still search both places, and Baralai can contact us by com sphere if he finds it first."

"There's more. Bahamut ..." Yuna's voice softened. "He told me how he died." She lifted her gaze to Tidus. "You were right. Yevon talked the Fayth into volunteering, but then he put them under a sleep spell to make them dream. They died during the transformation." All of her companions' faces saddened at the disturbing revelation, but she continued. "Bahamut said he didn't realize he was going to die when he volunteered. He said Yevon did this because only living souls can create good aeons. Dead souls result in corruption. He also said that if Yevon was capable of making a dream real, he would have done that with Zanarkand."

Tidus and Koji grew solemn and silent.

"He begged me not to do it, … for either of you," Yuna finally admitted.

Amid the silence, Ghiki hopped from Rikku's arms to her shoulder, wrapping his long, thin tail around her upper arm to anchor himself in place. Rikku winced, knowing how disappointed both of them must feel. "Does ... that mean we should give up looking for the sphere?"

"No," Tidus answered with determination, surprising Koji and everyone else. "Maybe Bahamut is right that nothing can be done for me, but we should still try to find answers for Koji." He took Yuna's hands in his own. "I owe it to him, … for Shuyin."

Yuna saddened and touched a hand to his cheek, understanding the sympathy for his childhood friend, but she was clearly worried. "Tidus ..."

"Not just for Koji – for all of us. Yevon was no fool. He wouldn't have taught magic that he didn't _want_ his students to know. He obviously kept some secrets to himself. Maybe Maedra was the same way. We may even be talking about two different resources here. Maybe the sphere of the apprentice looks very different from the sphere of the master." His tone changed to a plea. "Baralai should keep searching for Yevon's notes in Yunalesca's chambers in Bevelle. Even if aeon magic is pointless for us now, the people of Spira deserve to know the truth about what he did. But, ... we should also try to find out if Maedra left behind something else - something important about Spira's magic that he didn't tell anyone else – something that could help Koji, or other spirits, or any of us where the Farplane is concerned. If Arantisu said Maedra left something like that in a tower on the surface, we should check every tower in Zanarkand before we give up."

"You need to be hiding, not hunting spheres," she adamantly reminded him. "You promised."

"I promised I would hide after one dive in Zanarkand. Yuna, … I have to do this."

She didn't like that answer. "And _then_ you will hide?"

"Mh," he agreed with a soft nod, but Tidus waited to see if he had Yuna's support

Yuna hesitantly moved to his side and wrapped her arms around his waist again, as if clinging to something she feared was already lost.

Tidus draped an arm around her shoulders and gave her temple a kiss of reassurance. "Is anyone else coming with us?"

"I think I'm needed here, if you guys can manage without me," Paine answered.

"I'll go." Rikku looked around at the burnt forest and blackened lake. "This place is even creepier than Zanarkand now. I don't think I can stand it much longer." The Ghiki monkey on her shoulder chirped in agreement.

Tidus cut a glance toward the monkey, clearly not wanting him to tag along. The monkey grinned back at him and wriggled its brows, clearly anticipating annoying him more.

"Better you than me." Gippal offered his condolences and patted Tidus on the shoulder.

Koji smirked at the exchange, but then gave Tidus a grateful nod for his decision to continue the quest for the sphere, in spite of his own danger. Shuyin would never have offered to do something like that for him. Or would he? Shuyin had often rescued him from bad plays during games and petty arguments with his sister. If one boy got in trouble, the other usually waited it out along with his friend. But Shuyin had also been willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of a win. Koji realized he wasn't sure anymore, if he knew where Shuyin ended and Tidus began.

))((

Which one? That was the question on everyone's mind at the bend in the road beyond Mount Gagazet, overlooking the lost city of Zanarkand. Which one of the many, many towers in the ancient ruins could possibly hold the secrets of Maedra's magical instructions?

With no other clues to help narrow their choices, Yuna suggested exploring the area around the temple. Koji thought following a methodical grid pattern across the ruins would ensure a more thorough search. Tidus argued that would take too long. He wanted to see the water gardens with the original aeons, since he still carried the map Buddy had copied for him. Rikku wanted to start with easy-access, preferring the dry towers warmed and lit by the sun. Ghiki just wanted to see what was in Tidus's pockets.

Tidus and Rikku argued over the monkey. Koji taunted Tidus about not being able to deal with the pest, but then Tidus threatened to taunt Koji over his supposed infatuation with a certain someone. When Yuna decided she'd had enough, she insisted that Rikku ban Ghiki during the sphere dives for his own safety. Then, she suggested a compromise - one standing tower, one sunken tower, the temple, and one section of the water gardens. The search would stop at moonrise, and everything else would have to wait until after Tidus was safe from Meimo. Everyone was happy with the compromise, except Ghiki. But Tidus's victory dance upon the monkey's banishment was met with disapproval by Rikku, who responded by pushing him into the water.

By the time they were armed with their plan of mutual consent, afternoon was stretching into evening. They didn't have much time before sunset to do their exploring, but the party of four set off for the furthermost tower on dry land. Yuna thought it was strange walking in and out of people's homes, businesses, ... graves. Each time she came to Zanarkand, the same question came to mind. How many people had died during this tragedy? No one would ever know because no one survived long enough to count the bodies. Yet each room within the tower was littered with personal artifacts. The cost of the Machina War had been too enormous to imagine.

When their search of the sunny, dry tower turned up nothing, they moved on to a submerged tower that barely protruded out of the water on the eastern shore. Some of its floors were still above sea level, dry, and open to easy investigation. Beyond that, it was the usual business of swimming through the cold, pyrefly-filled ocean, being wary of fiends while looking for safe passage through an ancient, possibly unstable, interior. The second tower proved as unsuccessful as the first. So when the water became too cold and the light began too dim, the four divers swam back to land to rest and re-evaluate their plans.

"It will be dark soon," Yuna stated the obvious as Tidus huddled against her, exaggerating his shivers until she finally lifted her arms to let him rest his head on her lap. "The temple and the water gardens will have to wait for another time. It's more important now that we find a hiding place for you, and it can't be Zanarkand. Meimo's been here before. He may know the ruins as well as, or better than, you think you do."

He blinked the salt-water from his eyes, sniffled, and turned his head to squint up at her. "One more dive – the water gardens. I'm not expecting to find much there, so it won't take as long. But it's not moonrise yet, and since it was where the first aeons were, I'm just curious to see it. Then, tomorrow -"

She raised her knees, lifting his head close enough to interrupt him with a kiss.

"- we can go on to the temple if you -"

She attempted to distract him again with another one.

"-want."

It didn't work, so Yuna gave up the art of distraction and pouted instead. "No more dives. Your lips are turning blue."

"I'm trying to talk to you, and you're kissing me. I feel so violated."

She laughed reluctantly at his response, but abruptly dropped her knees, giving his head a jarring bounce. "Fine. Go do your _second_ dive. It's a good thing I'm not jealous of your love of swimming, or I'd be very upset with you right now."

He chuckled at her irritation. "You're not coming?"

"The water's too cold. I guess there's just not been as much sunlight today as usual." She shivered and pulled her towel closer as she looked up at the thick layer of clouds blotting out the sky.

Tidus sat up. "Rikku?"

"No way. I'm done for today." She grabbed her garment grid and dropped the towel to switch from her thief sphere into the long, heavy robe of her animal trainer sphere. Ghiki appeared on her shoulder once more, though he had been banished while swimming. "Ohhhhh, warmth!" She rubbed her arms, loving her robe, then grabbed Ghiki and snuggled her face into his furry cheeks.

"Oh! Good idea, Rikku." Yuna pulled out her grid and made the same switch. Kogoro, her magical dog, appeared at her side and loyally sat down beside her. Giving the large red canine a hug and a scratch behind the ears, she settled into her thick robe to try to warm up. "Koji, I'm surprised you're not afraid to go in deep waters anymore, being attacked by giant squid three times now," she commented to him as he stood to join Tidus for the final dive.

"I guess I'm getting used to it now," he lightly joked.

Tidus glanced at Rikku and grabbed the map from his supply bag to memorize the layout of the area he intended to visit. "You know, I could say something crude about how much you seem to enjoy hugging that monkey, but I'll be nice."

"How come you're always picking on Ghiki? Why not pick on Kogoro?" Rikku gestured toward Yuna's fat and happy dog.

"Kogoro doesn't act like Hell spawn. Do you see Kogoro picking my pockets and pulling my hair?" he sardonically retorted.

"Only because he doesn't have fingers, but he's thinking it. Ghiki's a good friend if you give him half a chance, you know. He was minding his own business, snuggling to help me stay warm, but you had to start picking on him again."

Tidus snickered and tucked the map back into his bag. "Well, if that's all you want, I know someone who'd be happy to replace the monkey and -"

Koji thunked the back of Tidus's head and gave him a tight-lipped expression.

"A-howch!" Tidus winced with a laugh as he rubbed the stinging spot.

"Nobody cares about the stupid monkey," Koji reprimanded him. "We're losing daylight."

Ghiki screeched and jumped out of Rikku's arms and onto Koji's head, then sprang onto Tidus's bag to tussle the map back out.

"Oh, no you don't." Tidus snatched the map away, so Ghiki pilfered a packed sandwich, instead. "Rikku? A little help here?" he complained and took his sandwich back, just as the monkey was going to lick it. Ghiki grabbed his brush next and started grooming his own white forelocks with it, while chittering in way that sounded like mock laughter. "_Rikku!_" Tidus pried the brush and bag away. "No monkey during the dives! That was our agreement."

Rikku shrugged and studied a scrape on her finger. "I'm done with my dive."

Growling under his breath, Tidus grabbed the monkey by the scruff of its neck and shoved it back under Rikku's nose.

Rikku frowned at him, but took her monkey back and cradled him away from Tidus's wrath. "Poor baby, Ghiki. You don't want to use his nasty old brush anyway, or you'll end up with the same stupid-looking hair."

As Tidus stuffed his recaptured belongings back into his pack, the monkey licked and spit on its hands to spike its own hair out at odd angles. Then, it relaxed against Rikku, hands behind its head, wearing a suave expression.

When Tidus passed his bag into Yuna's hands for safe-keeping, he realized what the monkey was doing and responded with a snort. "You _wish._" Tapping Koji's shoulder, he headed back toward the water.

Yuna giggled at his reaction to the monkey's antagonism, but then jogged after them before they went too far. "Wait!" Kogoro trotted happily behind her. "On second thought, we can search the temple and wait for you there." She looked back to Rikku to see if she was okay with that idea. "There won't be as much breeze inside, so it should be a little warmer than just sitting out here."

Rikku stood and joined them. "Fine by me, as long as I don't have to swim." Ghiki gave Tidus a big razz and made a face at him.

Tidus answered with a sigh of resignation. It was pointless to argue that the thing should be banished again. The extra magic, and hands, might be needed if they were going into the ruins alone.

Yuna smiled at his unhappy concession and kissed his cheek. "Be careful."

"You too."

"After this, no more excuses. We'll see you back at the temple." Then, Yuna detoured with Kogoro, and Rikku and Ghiki, toward the old Zanarkand temple's steps.

))((

On the broken road spanning the water in the direction of the water gardens, zombie Yevonite soldiers filtered out of the pyreflies into fiends to block their path. Koji drew his sword, ready to fight, but Tidus cast a haste spell on himself and charged into them, slicing and dicing each one until all fell. When he was done and stopped to catch his breath, he looked over his shoulder to see Koji standing resolute with the point of his blade in the ground.

"How am I supposed to learn how to use this thing, if you don't leave any for me?"

Tidus laughed at his friend's flat expression as he sheathed the sword and walked to the edge of the broken road. "Sorry. Habit. You can have all of them next time." Bracing himself for the shock of cold water, he drew a breath and dove in.

Koji smirked and shook his head. Then, putting away his own sword, he ran to the edge and dove in after him.

In the frigid waters of submerged Zanarkand, Tidus and Koji swam toward the back of the temple, where the water gardens had been located. Though neither of them had any personal memories of this place, both of them were aware it existed as a quiet retreat for public reflection. Both had seen holographic images of the well-groomed greenery, wooden bridges, cascading waterfalls, and combed gravel paths. Both were now astonished at the destruction that had rained down upon it during the Machina War, sinking the entire artificial island platform into the sea. It was practically nothing but heaps of rubble covered in coral and algae.

At this time of day, this far down, visibility was already difficult. Tidus clipped a water-safe light to his wrist, which illuminated the sea particles and pyre-flies floating in the water around them.

Koji did the same, and after a few minutes of exploration, gestured for Tidus to come near to show him a curious discovery - a stone disk, similar to Arantisu's, cracked and splintered into pieces, but still showing the faded impression of the Fayth once held prisoner within.

Tidus began digging at the rocks around the tomb, casting them aside as he searched for some kind of identification. He was about to give up when the rocks he pulled away revealed a faded, chipped painting of a lion-like creature with red eyes and a wingspan of stiff tentacles that pulsed with light. He recognized the aeon from Shuyin's memories of training with the beast. _Ryuo …_ It was like uncovering the grave of a long, lost friend. Tidus pulled a few more rocks away to reveal the symbolic eye of Yevon beneath the beast's image. Realizing he would never see the face of the murdered Fayth who gave life to the creature, he grabbed a large rock and pitched it against the symbol. The rock chipped the crack in the eye, but then floated down into the sediment. Then, Tidus headed to the surface in a swoosh of bubbles, leaving Koji to wonder why he wasn't happy about the discovery.

))((

Amid the haunting sounds of pyreflies whisking through floating streams of magic, Yuna stood in an ornamental circle on the elaborately tiled floor of the Zanarkand temple. The subject of the mosaic was a white-robed man wearing a white headdress with green accents. It wasn't the way Yevonite priests dressed now, but it was clearly a predecessor of the modern attire. "I wonder if that's him." Her voice carried a slight echo in the emptiness of this place forgotten by time.

"You mean Yevon?" Rikku drew close to inspect the tile while Kogoro sniffed at her feet and Ghiki climbed onto her head. "I never thought about it before. I always thought it was just a generic decoration. But maybe it is someone specific. Maybe it is him."

Yuna strolled a few steps down. "I never paid attention to the decorations. My mind was always on something more important … like ... getting the Final Aeon."

"Or mating monkeys?" Rikku giggled and gave Ghiki a pat. The monkey made a chittering sound before hopping onto Kogoro's back for a ride.

Yuna laughed lightly as she continued a little further down the hall. "Okay, so if I were a secret document on how to magic-up aeons, where would I be hiding?" She came to a stop in front of the entrance toward the Cloister of Trials. Then, tilting her chin in curiosity, she took note of a tile pattern in the wall that was only near the door. The engraving looked familiar, and when she looked around the room, it didn't seem to repeat anywhere else. Shrugging, she went into the antechamber of the spent trials and followed the wall to the next door, out of curiosity. There was the same single tile. Even more curios, she followed it through the second room of the trials and on into the third with Kogoro at her heels.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Rikku ran after her and jumped on the lift just as it sank into the Chamber of the Fayth.

Near the Chamber of the Fayth, where Lord Zaon's aeon should have been, Yuna passed her hand over a floor tile a few times, trying to make sense of it.

"What is it?" Rikku asked.

"I don't know, but I've seen this engraving before. It's a place that I've been to, but … I don't remember its name. And it's odd because it's in every room leading here, only once at the doorways - as if it's leading the way, though it's obvious a door is there. And yet here it is again on the floor beside the Final Aeon's tomb."

"But it's just a tall, skinny rock shaped like a tower. Like those ruins we went into looking for a sphere that one time. But noooo, Leblanc and her goonies had to show up and ruin everything."

Yuna drew in a breath of astonishment, then she whirled on her cousin and grabbed her by the sleeves. "Rikku! That's it!"

"What's it! What! I'm sorry! What did I do?"

"The floating ruins above Mount Gagazet!"

"Huh?" Rikku took another look at the tile. "Ohhhh ..."

"We've been assuming that Maedra and Spira lived in a Zanarkand tower, but maybe they didn't. Maybe they lived in the tower in the mountains!"

Kogoro suddenly barked and ran to guard the doorway behind them. Startled, Yuna and Rikku turned and braced themselves for a fight, but they were relieved to see that it was just Tidus and Koji returning, as promised.

"Okay, I quit for the night," Tidus surrendered in defeat. "Let's go find some place to call 'home' for the next few days, or years, until Meimo gets caught." Soaked and chilled from head to toe, he reached into his backpack on Yuna's shoulder and pulled out his towel to dry his face.

"You didn't find anything in the gardens?"

Koji's unsent body wasn't bothered by the temperatures, but he did grab a towel to dry off with as well. "There's nothing there now but seaweed and rocks. But I did find the tomb of an aeon that was broken to bits."

"That tomb belonged to Ryuo," Tidus explained as he paused to give Kogoro a pat, since the dog was happy to see him. "He was one of Lenne's aeons that Shuyin trained with."

"Shuyin fought that thing?" Koji asked with surprise.

"On a regular basis. He was ... " Tidus paused. "I don't know. Seeing it again ... It just made me so angry - what happened to him, Lenne, ... everything. Sometimes, it feels like more than just his memories, you know? Sometimes, ... I feel like I was there, too. Ryuo was larger than life. He didn't deserve to die that way – not by the hand of Yevon or Bevelle."

Yuna took the edges of his towel and lifted it from his hand to drape it over his head and shoulders, helping him dry off the wet chill. She knew all too well what if felt like to lose an aeon friend. "I know where we need to go next. We need to go to the Floating Ruins on top of Mount Gagazet."

Tidus blinked at her from beneath his towel. "You want us to climb all the way up that fiend infested mountain to set up camp in some ruins? I was thinking the library, you know? Something lower and closer – some place with vending machines."

"The library is the only decently comfortable place for miles around. We can't hide there. That's too obvious. Besides, Meimo already stole the Earth sphere from the top level, so he knows how to get in and out of there without being noticed. Arantisu said her mother kept notes from her father in a tower on the surface where they lived. And look at what I found at each stop on the way to the Final Aeon." She pointed to the tile underfoot. "We've got to go to the Floating Ruins." But Yuna could tell he was exhausted from the doing the two dives and traveling all day, and she was tired, too. "So, ... like it or not, we're hiding in the hot springs tonight," she gently scolded. "And don't try to talk your way out of it this time."

Tidus smiled at her soft reprimand and pulled the garment grid from his pocket to switch to dry, heavier clothing. Then, he finished drying his hair and stuffed the towel back into his bag. Ghiki snickered at the resulting non-styled-do, but after a cutting a glare of warning to the monkey, Tidus ignored the creature, took Yuna's hand, and led the rest of their party back to the temple's exit.

))((

The party of four left Zanarkand with nothing gained except a different idea for tomorrow. Night rolled over the ocean, and then the mountains, as they began their trek up the mountain road. Then, they scaled up the difficult terraced ledges that had once been cloaked with clouds. When they finally came to the hot springs, everyone was frozen and exhausted and glad to be soaking in steamy, comforting water. A long moment of silence passed before anyone spoke because everyone was so spent. Eventually, Yuna noticed the distant look on Tidus's face and shifted from sitting beside him to kneeling in front of him. She said nothing, but her inquiring expression was enough to break the shell.

"Just thinking," he shrugged, answering the unspoken question. "This is the proverbial needle in the haystack, you know? This is worse than hunting a regular sphere because we don't even know if it's a sphere. What's if it's a book or papers or something else? What if it's been destroyed? How will we even know if it doesn't exist anymore? Do you realize how impossible this quest is?"

Rikku folded her arms on her knees. "Well, as a last resort, … maybe Shinra could pull something out of the past from the Floating Ruins, just like he recreated the things lost in my garment grid."

Yuna nodded at the possibility, then folded her arms across Tidus's knees. "Nobody knows what used to be up in those ruins. So, even if my guess is wrong about Spira and Maedra living up there, Shinra might be able to solve the mystery of what that place used to be. And that would help us know whether it's worth searching, or whether we should keep searching Zanarkand's towers."

"Or some other towers," Koji commented from the other side of Tidus. "Maedra and Spira could have lived anywhere on the planet, … or in the ship." He leaned his head back on the rock ledge and stretched out beneath the hot water. "I'm having trouble remembering how hot a hot spring could feel. Being a ghost truly sucks sometimes."

"Well, then you should come here more often now that you're … whatever you are," Rikku answered. "Although, I guess that won't help if what you feel is based on memory rather than reality. Yuni and Paine and me started coming here a lot after we found out it existed." She glanced at Yuna's chest. "Not much has changed since last time. I still win!"

Yuna gasped in offense, rocked back on her heels, and crossed her arms over the top half of her bikini. "Rikku! That's so rude!" she fussed and splashed at her.

Rikku turned her head to avoid getting a face-full of water, then crawled away cackling wickedly, pleased with herself.

Yuna stood and followed Rikku splashing water over her every inch of the way until the small thief was screaming and running out of the pool.

Koji was clearly amused. He turned his head and started to open his mouth, but Tidus held up hand. "You know, what? Because I'm your friend twice over, I'm going to give you a piece of advice. Don't say anything about this, or you could find yourself sitting outside counting snowflakes."

))((

That night, while everyone was sleeping, Tidus's back began to ache. His thin bedroll on the rock floor simply wasn't enough. Finally, he raised himself on one elbow and checked the other three bedrolls laid out like spokes of a wheel. Apparently, he wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping. Koji was gone. Grunting in discomfort, Tidus sat up and scooted his bed roll closer to Yuna's, then double-draped his blanket over hers before he lay back down behind her and drew both covers over them. He tried to be quiet as he shifted, scooted, and finally settled into place before sliding an arm over her waist to draw her back against him. To his surprise, however, her foot slid over his calf and she laughed quietly in response. "You're awake?" he whispered.

"I can't sleep with you restless and all over the place like that," she whispered back. "You're like a cat turning around in her bed several times before settling into the position she started with."

Tidus frowned at the back of her head. "I can't sleep on rock. Okay? And when did you ever have a cat?"

Her foot rubbed absently behind his leg as she sleepily answered. "My mother had a cat when I was little, but I always thought of her as mine." As she quieted, her foot stilled, locked behind his knee. She was already drifting back to sleep from exhaustion.

Tidus smiled to himself and nestled into her hair. Closing his eyes, he tried to fall asleep again, when he heard a soft shuffle through the stone under his ear. Lifting his head, he saw Koji returning to his bed roll. "Psst," he lightly called his attention. "Where have you been?"

"Checking for fiends," Koji whispered in return. "Shuyin and me used to camp out in these mountains when we were kids, but we had our dads to watch over us then. I figured someone should still keep watch, and it's not like I need sleep the way you guys do."

Tidus lay his head back down. "I've never seen them come in here, though. Maybe they don't like the hot water."

"Maybe." Koji crawled back under his bedroll cover. "Do you remember those camping trips?"

Tidus smiled to himself. "Shuyin does."

Koji gew silent for a long moment, then rolled over to face the entrance of the cavern. "Get some rest."

"Thanks." Snuggled into Yuna's neck once more, Tidus closed his eyes and remembered the excitement Shuyin once felt upon learning about the Floating Ruins during a camping trip similar to this one. Shuyin had promised Lenne's little brother that they would explore it together some time. But the war took that promise, just as it had many others. Tidus made up his mind that if he ever saw Shuyin again, he would remember to tell him about whatever he found up there.


	16. Chapter 16: Castles in the Sky

Chapter 16: Castles in the Sky

The next morning, the party woke to a light dusting of snow falling from the thick cloud cover overhead - nothing unusual for this high-altitude, northern region. Rikku was left in charge of taking Tidus and Koji to the top of the rock spire, while Yuna went back down Gagazet's road to use the teleport sphere to return to the ship.

Paine had not come in last night, so apparently the situation at the lake had called for an overnight watch. As depressing as that thought was, Yuna gathered food supplies from Barkeep's kitchen and headed back to Macalani. When she arrived this time, she could tell the travel agency's back rooms had been used in preference to camping on the swampy ground, and yesterday's food stash had been taken this morning. No one was here at the moment, though. Yuna would have to cross the desolate woods to find them again. Borrowing from Rikku's idea with Ghiki, Yuna changed dress spheres and summoned Kogoro. After giving him a good scratch, she opened the door.

Rain ... It was only a light rain, but rain in Macalania seemed so much more unnatural than the snow that should have been here. Yuna pulled her hood forward and followed her hound. His keen sense of smell led him through the previously cut trails until they reached the lake. But upon approaching the lake, Yuna took him into her arms for fear of what the black water might do to him if he fell in. Like Tidus and Koji, Kogoro was made of magic, too.

Paine came to greet her while Shinra and Gippal continued to work with their equipment near the water's edge in spite of the steady drizzle. She was dressed in her warrior gear and had mud caked over her legs and gloves. Mud had splattered her neck, but she wore a hooded poncho to keep the rain out of her face. She looked tired and frustrated, but she was holding out well, considering. "Gippal and I just finished building a dam to get the majority of the water away from the outflow. So, the good news is that at least this stuff's not traveling in the system anymore. We got some barrels from Rin for the overflow, but there's too much to contain all of it." She turned to watch Shinra and Gippal as she spoke. "We got some pipe fixtures from Machine Faction headquarters, so we're going to be diverting the inflow of water directly to the outflow pipe and digging up the ground beneath them to see what kind of damage the tree roots did. The bad news is that what's here is still seeping into the ground. Shinra finally created a chemical solution to crystallize the water without using magic, so we'll try using that to solidify it and scoop it into safe containers."

Yuna wore a sad frown. "Sounds complicated. Rikku and her alchemy skills should have stayed with you."

"If Shinra can't figure it out, nobody can," Paine answered with a sigh. "In fact, he's probably glad she's not here this time, as much as that monkey gets into trouble."

Yuna's frown turned into a disapproving scowl. "Well, at least you're not having to put up with her crawling around in the hot springs doing size comparisons again."

Paine pulled a face of annoyance, then laughed. "It's probably because she's so _puny_ in every other way. She's developed an inferiority complex - needs to feel big at something."

"Hey, there's work to be done." Gippal took a break from his work to join them. As with Paine, his Al-Bhed coveralls and poncho were thick with mud. "What are we talking about over here?"

"Rikku's breasts," Paine answered without batting an eye.

Gippal blinked with curious doubt for a moment, then removed a muddy glove to reach a finger to his ear as if to unplug it. "Say that again?"

"You heard me."

He shrugged nonchalantly and grinned. "I know. I just wanted to hear you say it again."

Yuna's brows rose, worried that he had the wrong impression. "Oh, but we love Rikku. We weren't talking about her in a bad way or anything."

"Then that makes this little conversation even _more_ interesting." His sharp brows took on a look of mischief.

Paine scowled at him and popped his shoulder. "Pervert," she muttered before leading Yuna to where Shinra was working.

"I've been working all night on freakin' pond scum, alright?" Gippal called after them in his defense. "Yuna wouldn't have smacked Tidus for saying that," he muttered to himself as he rubbed his shoulder. Then he reconsidered. "Okay, maybe she would have." Gippal sighed and followed them to check Shinra's progress with the formulas.

Yuna snuggled her Kogoro closer as they came to Shinra's make-shift chemistry lab on the edge of the lake. "How is it going?" she asked, not expecting a cheerful answer.

Shinra looked up from his work to greet them. "Some time ago, I found a way to preserve the crystallized magic that used to grow in these woods. So I spent all night trying to find a way to do the same thing for the water."

"But if it acts like an Osmose spell, then it's black magic, isn't it?"

"Yes and no." He set down what he was doing and searched his packaged gear looking for something. "Osmose qualifies as black magic because it's destructive, but it's not elemental based. Drain and Osmose spells are nothing but raw destructive energy straight from the Farplane's negative domain. In minor amounts, they can be managed to inflict wounds on most fiends, but more powerful fiends loaded with negative energy are immune to it. They just kind of absorb it. This is like that, but more powerful. So that's what we really need - something that can _drain_ drain magic."

Too many of his words flew past her understanding, but she caught the last part. "Shinra, we think Maedra and Spira might have lived in the ruins above Mt. Gagazet, but no one knows what those ruins used to be," Yuna told him while he searched. "Is it possible that whatever fixed Rikku's grid would allow you to sort of look into past, ... to see if it's even worth searching for Maedra's magic spheres there?"

Shinra finally found what he was looking for. "Extract of dark anima."

Paine tilted her chin with suspicion. "Where did you get that?"

"It's physical, so it won't be dissolved by anti-magic," Shinra talked to himself as he returned to his lab set up and continued preparations for mixing another formula. "It's immune to Drain and Ultima, therefore it cannot be physically damaged by destructive magic. With properties of Osmose, however, it can drain magic, and it absorbs elemental magic."

"The little twerp is blowing us off," Paine mumbled to Yuna. "It's like watching a prepubescent mad scientist at work."

Yuna smiled at Paine's commentary, but tried again. "Shinra, I know your work here is very important. I just thought the way you fixed Rikku's grid might help with our search. If you have a device of some kind we could borrow ..."

Shinra combined the extract with a few other solutions, then set the test tube into some forceps. "Everyone needs to back up. Back far, far away. This might not work." While everyone obediently backed away to the fringes of the grove, the boy picked up a small robotic remote before joining them. Then, he faced his experiment and pulled down his mask. "Show time." His finger hesitated above the button, then hit it.

Everyone winced and braced themselves for an explosion as the robotic arm added a sample of the black water to the extract solution. Nothing happened.

"Crud." Shinra pushed up his mask and marched back to his lab to see what went wrong. But to his surprise, when he lifted the test tube, a solid chunk of black crystal slid into his hand. Beaming with excitement, he turned to face the others. "It worked!"

"Alright!" Gippal clapped with Yuna and Paine as they crossed the grove back to his temporary lab. "So, what exactly are we cheering about?"

Shinra proudly showed him the tube. "This black crystal is now one of the most destructive forms of magic known. It can absorb all elemental energies and possibly release them as a bomb with the right catalyst. But, more importantly, it can inflict non-elemental damage on magical components."

"And in the common tongue that means ..."

He placed it in Gippal's hand. "It can dissolve anti-magic."

"Most destructive form of magic known, … and you're trusting it to Gippal?" Paine lifted a brow of doubt.

Shinra reconsidered and gave the crystal to Paine instead, drawing a frown from his fellow engineer. "Formula #1, that I made earlier, can be used to solidify the water to get it into storage containers. It will still suck the magic out of anything that it touches, so be sure to handle with care and label it clearly. But Formula #2, with dark anima extract, might eventually help us dispose of it. Like the dark aeon it came from, it's _immune_ to destruction magic, so it can be added to the anti-magic without being dissolved. And since it adds Osmose qualities by physical component, rather than casting directly from the Farplane, it can drain magic without zapping us. Or if we do get zapped, then it should at least absorb its own shock effect since it absorbs elemental magic."

Gippal's expression twisted in confusion. "Okay, back up to the part about us getting zapped."

"When I added the black water to Formula #2, it crystallized the matter in the water, but vaporized the anti-meta properties. I only have a little bit of dark anima extract, though. Since no one can summon dark aeons anymore, I might not be able to make enough Formula #2 to make a difference. But it's a step in the right direction." He stood and packed a few items for a lighter trip this time as Paine turned the small, black crystal in her hand and examined it with curiosity. "Yuna, I know it will be very tiring," he continued, "but if you could cast as many Reflect spells as possible on the inflow pipe, Gippal and Paine wouldn't have to worry about incoming magic while they fit the new extension between the inflow and outflow."

"Anything to help." Switching to her white magic dress sphere and dismissing Kogoro for his own safety, Yuna followed Shinra and the others to the inflow pipe. Water was still flowing into the small area that Paine and Gippal had tried to dam and drain. This time, with most of the black water held back, she could see pyreflies in the muddy basin. It made her sad to do it, but she held out her hands and cast multiple Reflect spells, until she had no energy left. "That should hold it for a while."

Shinra handed one bottle of Formula #1 to Gippal. "When you have the flow diverted, consult my notes and make a lot of this. Add it to the black water to crystallize it, then dig it out of the ground as soon as possible - even before you take a look at the infrastructure under the pipes. I'll be back as soon as I can." Shinra moved to Yuna's side. "I'm ready to go to the ruins when you are."

Yuna nodded in gratitude and followed him back through the wet woodlands to the travel agency. From there they teleported back to the Celsius. "Just a moment," she told the boy genius. "I want to let them know where we'll be in case we need their help."

Entering the bridge and walking to the rail at the top of the steps, she leaned over and called to Buddy, Brother, and Cid who were standing at the front window, rather than sitting at their electronic controls. "I'll be at the Floating Ruins next. Shinra's making progress on the lake water. Are you guys going to be doing any work on Tidus's hut today?"

"Not today," Buddy answered without looking back at her. "But you might want to take a look at this before you go."

Curious about what they were staring at, Yuna hopped down the stairs and hurried to the window, her mind alive with worst-case scenarios. "Is Arantisu in trouble? Did the squid come to the beach?" But when she reached the window, she saw something even worse. "Rain?"

Rain never came to Besaid, unless Sin was around to stir it up. Somehow, the lush vegetation of the jungle kept a humidity level that worked like a greenhouse. So even without rain, Besaid was nowhere near as dry and desolate as Bikanel.

"Rain over the desert was always the first sign that Sin had awakened," Cid commented breaking the uneasy silence they all felt. "The year that your mother died in Sin's attack, ... I sensed something was wrong with that rain. Now I can feel it again, ... just like before."

Yuna's brows drew together in uncertainty as she watched as the drops pattering against the window pane and running down the side of the airship. "Cid? Would you mind flying to Bikanel? To see if it's raining there, too?"

Cid turned to his son. "Brother, take the hover craft to Bikanel."

"Aye, aye!" Brother dramatically saluted and marched out of the bridge, glad to have a mission of his own, ... even if it had been a direct order from his father just to check the weather.

Cid reached to the control panel nearby and handed Yuna a com-link, but looked at her with grave concern. He didn't have to say what he was thinking.

"I'll be careful, … and I'll be back as soon as I can." Yuna accepted the com-link and placed it behind her ear. She gave her worried uncle a kiss on the cheek and patted Buddy's shoulder. Then, she turned to join Shinra once more, but he had already followed her to the bridge. He was also staring with uncertainty at the unusual Besaid rain. Then, together, they went back to the teleport sphere and used it to return to Fayth Scar.

))((

It was a grueling climb to the top of the rock tower that housed the long forgotten ruins, but Yuna and Shinra finally met up with Tidus, Rikku, and Koji at the lowest platform.

"Yay, you made it!" Rikku stood to greet them. "How are things going at the lake?"

"We've finally found a way to crystallize the black water," Shinra answered. "It's not much, but at least we can stop the bulk of it from flowing back through the system." He set down his bag of equipment and paused to hook a few contraptions together. The end result looked like a metal detector.

"What's that?" Koji asked.

"It reads the half-life of spirit and light energy and combines it in a way that can detect traces of matter by the composition of their alchemical ingredients. It then logs it into this index to identify type of composition and possible time periods -"

"Shinra," Tidus interrupted, mildly irritated. "Nobody here speaks fluent Geekanese."

"It allows him to trace things that were once here," Koji easily translated.

Tidus's mouth quirked at the prompt response. "You're telling me you understood that."

"Doh." Rikku answered. "He said it can read shadows of what things were made of and figure out their dates of existence." She headed for the narrow steps leading up to the next platform. "Are we ready to check this place out, or what?"

Koji gave Tidus's shoulder a sympathetic pat. "Tough break, man. You must have inherited Shuyin's science grades along with his memories." Chuckling to himself, he drew his sword and followed Rikku.

The corner of Tidus's mouth twisted at their teasing, but he ignored them and went to Shinra's side. "So, you're saying you can _see_ the past with that thing?"

Shinra shook his head at Tidus's inability to grasp the concept, then walked toward the waterfall to check out the dizzying height of their path. "Not see it. More like _sense_ it. Everything is made up of energy and matter. By following the residues left by combinations of elements and energy, we can tell what used to be here. Then, we can try to reconstruct it. It's kind of like finding a fossil. The actual item might not be there anymore, but we know it existed because of the print left behind. It's not an exact science, and I've never used it on anything of this large scale, but Yuna was right. It might help." He watched the long, thin waterfall cascade through the clouds below, then lifted his head to look into the clouds overhead. "As high as we are, there should be ice crystals up here. It should be colder, and yet it feels warmer than Gagazet."

"You noticed that, too," Yuna commented uneasily.

"I wonder where the waterfall comes from?"

Tidus looked up toward the source of the falls. "Maybe someone left their bath water running when they went to answer the com sphere. Then BOOM! Someone dropped a bomb, and all the water spilled out here."

Shinra sighed at Tidus, shook his head, and walked back to Rikku and Koji. "Zanarkand has given him a very warped perspective on everything," he muttered as he led the way up the stone steps.

Still feeling drained from having used all her magic on the pipe in Macalania, Yuna pulled an Ether bottle from her supply bag and drank it down, inhaling the aromatic vapors of the magic-restoring drink as she gazed at the elaborate and lacy, stone architecture. "This place doesn't look bombed. It just looks ... forgotten," she remarked, trying to envision what it once might have looked like. Then, she and Tidus followed behind the others, scaling the steps to the first platform of the structure.

"Did any of you go inside the ruins when you came after that sphere here?" Shinra asked.

"Not really. We ran though one passageway that I know of, but the sphere was at the very top - along with a very big Boris spider."

Rikku shuddered. "Spiders are nasty. Don't remind me of that."

"Do you remember which sphere it was?" Shinra asked.

Yuna tried hard to recall. "It was a Zanarkand sphere. There was nothing special about it. Just a large view of the city and a lot of people gathered for a concert - Lenne's concert. Maechen was in it. Remember that?" She laughed lightly with Rikku. "Of course, we didn't know about her, or realize it was him, until much later."

"Sounds like someone went through a lot of effort to hide a worthless sphere up here," he decided. "Hmmm ... Take me where you found the sphere. That might be a good starting point."

"Right!" Rikku ran ahead on the crumbled pathway, hopping over broken columns and climbing large, fallen slabs of rock. But eventually, her pace slowed as she waited for her friends to catch up to her.

When Yuna finally reached the large corridor they passed through the first time they were here, racing against Leblanc, she allowed herself to study the structure's details this time. Magic flames still lit the torches on the brown stone walls - so far, the only evidence that someone once used this place regularly. Parts of the path had fallen away, so they had to be careful not to fall through the holes in the floor. The wind whistled eerily through the open chambers.

"I wonder why we never heard of this place in Zanarkand," Koji spoke, his voice offering a slight echo within the large, empty hall.

Shinra checked the readings of his detection device. "It seems to be about the same age as Zanarkand - a few thousand years old - but the architecture is more simple here. My guess is that this place was built first and had already fallen to ruin by the time Zanarkand became a metropolis. In fact, maybe the people who once lived here ended up moving down there."

"Why build a city up here in the first place?" Tidus asked. "Wouldn't it make more sense to build it on flat land or constructed islands?"

"In stories of ancient Earth," Yuna spoke, "castles were built on high ground to prevent them from easily being taken by invaders. Maybe this was a fortress city, … like a castle."

"Wow." Rikku peered at all the dark passageways that extended beyond the main breezeway. "I wonder where all these other halls lead." She turned to Yuna. "Hey, remember that broken lift that we tried to use? Sure wish it worked right now. My legs are beginning to feel like soggy noodles after climbing all those stairs."

"There was a lift?" Shinra asked, looking at Rikku with disgust. "Why didn't you _tell_ me there was a lift? I might have been able to fix it."

Rikku flushed in embarrassment at having overlooked that tiny detail, but then continued to lead the way through the ruins. When they emerged on the other side of the large stone corridor, they found themselves back in the open. Clouds were rolling in, though, and patches of fog were beginning to cover part of the walkway. Visibility was reduced dramatically, and footing became precarious as they continued to pick and climb their way up to the top.

But their journey came to a stop when a loud fluttering sound from above caught their attention. Each of the party members glanced to the others with hesitation. No one asked, but everyone was thinking the same question - "What was that?" Before anyone could suggest an answer, a mass of large, leather wings swooped on them with sudden fury. A flock of sickly-orange-colored ahriman began scratching at them with talons and casting mind-maddening magic from their singular, large eyes.

Rikku shrieked and threw up her arms to keep them away. Yuna dropped the Ether bottle to prepare some defensive magic. The bottle shattered to pieces underfoot, but then her foot slipped as well. Yuna's hands hit the concrete and shattered glass beneath her to break her fall. Looking up and seeing Rikku's predicament, she ignored the cuts to her hands and was grateful to have consumed enough of the precious fluid to cast a magic shell around her cousin and prevent her from being affected by the ahriman's magic. At this height, on the narrow ledge, not being able to think about the next step could be deadly, so Yuna cast magic shells over each person in their party, and herself.

Koji tried to swing at the flying monsters, but his sword was heavy, and they stayed high. The ahriman would swoop low for physical attacks, but then quickly dodge out of range and fly away to cast more spells.

"Iiiyaaa!" Tidus threw a powerful Slow spell on the whole flock, then dug into his backpack to retrieve a blitzball. "Koji!" He pitched the ball with a strong grunt, and Koji jumped to catch it.

Quickly sheathing the sword, Koji knew exactly what to do with the ball. After dodging another ahriman, he kicked the blitzball into it, stunning it and knocking it to the ground. He was surprised, however, when the ball returned to him. Ah, the wonders of magic ...

Tidus's pitch nearly cost him, though. When he turned back around, a giant ahriman locked onto his gaze and cast a Confusion spell on him, but Yuna's Shell magic shimmered and repelled it. Relieved, Tidus drew Brotherhood and raised the sword's wide, flat side to intercept the claws that reached for his face when the spell failed. He used the blade to push the winged beast back and then flipped the razor-thin edge horizontally to slash through it.

Rikku grabbed Shinra and ran under a stone overhang, where she paused to dig at her belt for a grenade. Pulling the pin with her teeth, she pitched it in the air toward one of the winged menaces. Seconds after the explosion, bits of ahriman rained down on the path. Pulling and casting a second grenade, she plugged her ears and waited for a second explosion. Unfortunately, this one missed its mark and landed near Tidus.

"Ahhh! Rikku!" Tidus angrily scolded as he grabbed it and flung it toward another ahriman.

The grenade bounced and exploded as it hit the stone wall. Yuna screamed and covered her head as rock debris fell on her.

"Woopsie," Rikku winced. "It's too tipsy up here. I'd better try something else!" Pulling out her garment grid, she crossed her fingers that it wouldn't mess up on her and switched to her black mage sphere. "Thundagaaaa!" she shouted and cast a large bolt of lightning at the nearest target. Fried to a crisp, the creature dropped out of the sky and fell to the seemingly bottomless depths below them. "Ooh, that was kinda cool. I should use that more often now that I'm not afraid of it." She grinned.

Tidus grabbed Yuna's hand and guarded her back. "Sorry about that. Go stand under the overhang with Rikku, … and then slap her for me."

Yuna ran for shelter under the overhang, then changed into her gunner sphere and drew her revolvers. Shooting from her distance, she was able to help Koji and Tidus take down the remaining ahriman in the ambush. When the last winged eye fell, she placed her guns back in their holsters and looked at her hands with a wince.

Tidus scowled at Rikku as he and Koji joined them under the protective overhang.

"I said I was sorry," the small thief answered the accusing looks. "I'm used to Wakka helping me aim those things a little better, _ya?_"

Koji offered the blitzball back to him. "Thanks. I think the old man was wrong about the sword."

"Your aim always was better than mine. Keep it." Tidus smirked as he sheathed his sword, but then he caught a glimpse of his hand. Blood …, but he wasn't bleeding.

With a pained expression, Yuna looked down at her hands, too. "It was the bottle," she explained as he took her wrist to see the wounds. "I had to grab onto the ledge in spite of the glass, or I would have fallen. I don't have enough energy left to heal them yet."

Defensiveness changing to regret and sympathy, Rikku helped her cousin pick out the pieces of glass that were still embedded in her palms. "I'm so sorry, Yunie."

"It's not your fault. We were ambushed. We all did the best we could, and we're safe now. That's what matters."

Tidus drew Brotherhood back out and pulled the red strip of cloth from its handle. Placing the sword back in its sheath, he carefully wrapped the cloth around Yuna's palm. Then, he placed a soft kiss in the center of her hand before releasing it. "My mom used to say that would make the pain go away. It … really doesn't, … but it never hurts to try."

"Here. Maybe this can help." Koji offered one of the potions he had bought from the Besaid shop.

Yuna read the label on the bottle, but then passed it back to him. "Thank you, but ... these cuts are small, and this potion is valuable. Let's save it in case we need it for something more severe later. I'll be okay. Really." She smiled at all three of them for trying to help, then Tidus slipped an arm around her shoulders to accompany her the rest of the way to the top.

Pulsating waves of energy flowed around the curled, piston-like pinnacle of the rock tower's ruins. No Boris spider waited for them this time. And the pale blue and white tiled interior was still empty of the sphere they had taken about a year ago. Shinra lifted his machina toward the energy waves first, then walked to the sphere's stand. "Such careful placement. The sphere that you found here wasn't meant to be hidden. It was put here with some kind of purpose in mind." He walked around the room to get other readings.

Rikku walked out into the solarium and gazed from one of the windows to the distance below them. "Wow, it looks like the waterfall is coming from the magic up here."

"Those waves of magic are made of elemental energy," Shinra answered as he continued to inspect the place. "My guess is that it's a weather spell of some kind."

Koji walked to the open window and stood beside Rikku to look toward Zanarkand. "If it weren't for the clouds, you could probably see forever from up here."

"From the looks of things, this used to be an observatory." Shinra returned to the sphere stand and adjusted his device to get different readings. "The residential areas are probably just below it."

"This place must have quite a view of the night sky," Tidus spoke, moving to Koji's other side and lifting his eyes to the clouds overhead.

Yuna smoothed a hand over the intricately carved tiles and white stone. "It was probably very beautiful at one time."

Shinra ignored their wonder to closely monitor his device. Static images of residue began to leave strange imprints on his screen. At first he frowned and tried to adjust it again, but then he realized what he was seeing and drew in a breath of shock. Quickly, he separated the frames, studied the stills, then touched a color-fill display. "Guys?"

Everyone drew near to see what he had found.

"This circle of light is the sphere." He switched to another still. "Those static blurs of light are your hands taking it. These are the hands that put it there. Now look at this one." He displayed a blurry, static-filled image of ripples coming out from the hands.

"Magic?" Yuna guessed.

"A spell was placed on this sphere – a powerful one. Want to know the date I'm registering for it?" Shinra looked up and saw that he had their undivided attention. "About a thousand years ago."

Rikku sighed with awe. "Just think, we were the first people to come up here for a thousand years!"

"Rikku, don't you get it?" Shinra faced her. "Those hands - that spell - this place - at that time ..."

"Yevon?" Yuna guessed in amazement. "Could that have been Yevon casting the Dream?" She faced Rikku and Tidus. "That blue stream of magic that surrounded the Fayth in the wall on Gagazet ... It shot straight up into the sky, remember? Maybe it came from here? And when the Fayth were sent, the spell was broken. That's why these ruins were hidden until then."

"Tidus! If this is where Yevon created the Dream, that means this is where you were really born!" Rikku laughed.

Tidus drew back, putting distance between himself and the sphere stand. "I need some air." Excusing himself, he went back out into the solarium of the observatory.

Yuna watched him leave, but turned to her other friends. "If Yevon came here to cast the Dream spell, maybe he used this place for other magical experiments, like creating aeons." She was thinking of the tiles on the temple walls that pointed to this place. "Shinra, to cast a powerful spell like the Dream, he probably had to consult his resources. There must be some other evidence of magic around here."

Shinra looked back over his readings. "There." He stopped a short distance from the stand. "His hands touched other matter. The composition is that of … a memory sphere, ... books."

"That's it! That's got to be it!"

"Hold this while I set up for retrieval." Shinra passed the machina device into Rikku's hands and set down his pack to search in it for some more equipment. "I can extract the residue of the items giving off magical energy." He set up a silver mirror-like device and plugged it into a portable power source which turned its surface a pale blueish-green. "But this will take awhile. I suggest you all find something to do while you wait," he said over his shoulder as he continued to work.

"Well, what's there to do up here?" Rikku grumbled.

"We could go find more fiends to throw grenades at," Koji suggested.

"Hey! Can we use this thing to go see what the other rooms might have been like?" Rikku asked, holding up Shinra's machina device.

The boy's eyes nearly bugged out at the idea of Rikku playing with one of his inventions.

"Hey, Yunie! Let's go see what was in the rooms below!" Rikku grinned with excitement.

Yuna shrugged and smiled. "I'm game. Would you like to come along?" she asked of Koji.

He looked to Shinra with indecision. "I guess there's nothing we can do to speed things along."

"Tidus?" Yuna crossed the pale-blue tile under the cloud-enclosed solarium and stopped at his side. "Want to go see what the other rooms had in them?"

He wasn't enthusiastic about the idea. "Somebody should stay with Shinra."

Hating to see him disoriented over his origins again, she cupped his cheek in one hand and kissed him on the other. "We won't go far. Just the level below this one." Reluctant to go, but knowing he needed some quiet space to work out his feelings about their theory, Yuna turned and left with Koji and Rikku.

))((

After exploring the ruins for a long time, Yuna, Rikku, and Koji returned to Shinra, anxious to see how he was progressing.

"We finally figured out how to read your sensory device." Rikku beamed and offered it back.

Shinra sighed with visible relief to see that it was still in one piece. Tidus, who had sat down next to the boy to watch him draw residue within the mirror, accepted it for him and set it aside.

"Oooh. What's that?" Rikku asked, reaching a finger toward the oddly shaped sphere he was working on within the mirror's frame. "Is that a sphere from the past?"

Shinra scowled at her being so close to his work and protectively shielded it with an arm. "It's a _copy_ of a sphere from the past - an illusion. The original one is obviously not here anymore. There were several books and scrolls with it, too, but I can only pull magic items through the mirror. So, apparently only one book was enchanted."

Tidus passed the recovered copy of the book to Yuna. "It's from Earth - something about a Gaia Theory, where the planets have spirits. Some kind of protection spell must have been put on it to keep it from being damaged over time."

Yuna accepted the book as if she were accepting an egg made of tissue paper. Kneeling beside him, she opened the book with her bandaged hand and looked through the pages with care. "Earth had spirits like we do? But ... I thought they were afraid of our spirits. I thought that's why the Founders wanted Bevelle to punish Zanarkand for using so much spirit magic."

"Well, I didn't read much of it, but since summoners do spirit magic and all, I asked him to pull it out for you."

Yuna smiled and hugged his neck. "You know me so well. Thank you."

"Don't thank me. Thank Shinra."

"What about me?" Rikku crouched by Shinra. "Did you find anything interesting for me?"

"You went off with my matter-meta index recorder." He flatly told her. "That's gift enough."

Rikku folded her arms. "Hmpf!"

Shinra touched a button for the mirror to compress the meticulously collected residue into solid matter and eject it slowly into reality. The item was small and misshapen in some places, but the experiment was a success just to be holding it. "I don't know if the memory within it will still work. It might be that all I recovered is the sphere casing." There was only one way to find out. Shinra turned it on, and to his surprise, the sphere hummed to life.

Through much static, a man with long, black hair neatly tied back beneath a white headdress looked at them from the past. His face looked haggard, tired, sad, angry, and a flush of other emotions he couldn't have begun to put into words.

_"Yunalesca, ... if you are watching this, then the end has come for me and Zanarkand. I will have told you of my plans to see that justice comes ... to our city that was destroyed, … to our citizens who were massacred, … and to our survivors who have lost everything but their faith in me to deliver them from spending the rest of their lives in Bevelle's dungeons. I will have given you the copies of my edicts to deliver to the traitors in Bevelle's temple to make sure that this never happens again. And I will have finished the spell that I am about to begin. _

_"I am connecting a sphere of Zanarkand to the survivors of the attack. Through this spell that I am about to weave, they shall be saved, and Zanarkand shall live forever. Do not come looking for it. It is in a location you will not be able to reach. But I ask that you finish the installation of aeons in all of the remaining temples. I have taught you everything you need to know to create the Final Aeon. Please, … use it to destroy me once I have avenged Zanarkand. The rest of my summoning secrets must be returned to where I found them. I think it's very fitting to bury the master's dreams and legacy beneath the resurrection of mine._

_"Having never cast this kind of magic before, I cannot say what will happen. I can only say that for your sake, and for the rest of Spira, I will not rest until I see the people who did this crime against humanity suffer a similar fate! Be sure to tell Maester Renuta my exact words. Only upon surrender to the edicts will my punishments cease. No restrictions on magic! No more machina! And no ... more ... Founders! Bevelle will learn to respect Zanarkand, or I will avenge their attack again, ... and again, ... and again!_

_"I love you, my daughter. Blessings upon you and Zaon. It will be up to you now to continue teaching spirit magic to the people of Spira, so that they are not overrun by fiends. Summoners are Spira's only hope for survival on her own."_

The sphere's weak image faded.

"That was him! That was really him! We have a sphere of Yevon!" Rikku cried in excitement. "Do you have any idea how much gil this thing is worth?"

Yuna swallowed angrily and felt as if she were going to cry. "He had no idea ... what he was condemning us to."

Confused, Koji sat back on his heels. "So, are we on the right track for finding Maedra's magic, or not? He said he was returning the resources to where he found them, but he didn't say where that was."

Tidus lowered his gaze to the tile beneath the sphere stand. "'I think it's very fitting to bury the master's dreams and legacy beneath the resurrection of mine,'" he recited. "It's buried here - right here." Standing, he tried to push away the sphere stand, but it wouldn't budge. "Let me see your sword."

Koji passed him the large, two-handed weapon he carried strapped to his back.

Tidus positioned himself in front of the tile beneath the sphere stand. Then, he used one hand to summon magical strength and slammed the point of the blade into the ground. Ripples of magic rolled beneath the tiles breaking them up. "Little trick I learned from watching Auron," he answered the stunned expressions of his companions. It wasn't anywhere as strong as Auron's mastery of the skill, but it was enough to crumble the ground and uncover a safe.

Rikku gasped and began clearing the broken rocks and tiles out of the way. "Oh! Oh! I can help! Let me do this part!" She switched to her thief sphere and pulled out a tool kit full of picks and probes. Lying on her stomach on the cold, dirty floor, she worked at the old lock for several minutes until it finally popped open.

Overwhelmed with quiet awe, Koji lifted the lid and pulled out several scrolls, books, and spheres. "Thank you." He lifted his gaze to his new friends. "Thank you all ... for giving me another chance at life."


	17. Chapter 17: Raining Pouring

Chapter 17: Raining Pouring

Normally, Al-Bhed treasure hunters would be in the open desert sifting through the sands and ruins for ancient machina parts to refurbish and reinvent. But this time, as Brother's hovercraft flew over Bikanel Island, no one was in sight. As far as the eye could see the desert was receiving rain. It wasn't that the rain had made their work conditions difficult. They were wary of its very presence.

When he had seen enough, Brother sped back toward Besaid and landed the hovercraft in the belly of the large, red airship. He rode the lift back to the bridge, where Buddy, Cid, Barkeep, and Darling stood at the window, watching the white-capped waves washing onto the beach.

They all looked up expectantly at their captain's entrance, but Brother's shoulders - indeed, his entire body - sagged with the bad news.

"Ohhhhh dear." Barkeep sighed, his froggy eyes closing with sadness. "Whatever shall we dooo."

"It's that damned squid, I tell ya," Cid grumbled as Brother joined them at the window. "That monster's turning into the next Sin."

"Now, now," Buddy spoke as he folded his arms and leaned back against the central mapping system. "We have no evidence of that. Besides, Yevon no longer exists, so he can't create a new Sin."

"Well, maybe something else can. We've got a lot of nut jobs in this world, you know - people just looking for an excuse to cause trouble."

"Seymour once wanted to put his nasty, filthy, ugly hands on Yuna so he could become Sin," Brother angrily remembered.

"Yeah, but Maester Seymour doesn't exist anymore either." Buddy countered. "Just ... let's not jump to conclusions here, okay? If we go after that squid right now, we'll have to fight it _and _the tides."

"Not if I blast it out of the water with both barrels," Cid insisted.

Buddy shook his head and moved to the control panel that Shinra used to manage. Sitting down, he tapped one of the com sphere links. "Yuna, can you hear me? Brother just got back from Bikanel. There's rain in the forecast. Cid thinks the big squid is turning into another Sin, and his trigger finger is getting itchy again. Any ideas what's going on?"

Cid humpfed, but Darling softly patted his arm with her long, blue fingers. "Yoona will know what to doo."

"But not even Yuna can control the weather," Brother sullenly responded and went to mope in his own seat at the driver's controls.

))((

Shinra began breaking apart his lab equipment and putting it back in his travel bag. "Now that your sphere hunt is done, I should get back to Macalania."

"Thank you. We never could have done it without you." Yuna bowed from her seated position, then looked to Tidus. "I guess we can leave now, too, but ... I think _you_ should stay. This might be the best hiding place we'll find. Most people don't even know this place exists."

Tidus dropped Koji's sword near him, sat down on the floor, and leaned back against the wall. "Sure, why not? After all this is where I really came from - this place with no name," he answered with sarcasm. "Dream Zanarkand wasn't even located in the real Zanarkand. My entire world existed in a little glass sphere, filled with someone else's memories, and wrapped in illusion. It was all a lie."

Koji offered his friend a sympathetic frown and drew his sword back into its sheath. "All the more reason you deserve to become real."

Yuna studied Tidus's discouraged expression, but then looked to Koji with uncertainty. Had he forgotten Bahamut's and Baralai's warnings about using aeon magic to make either of them real again? Or was he just choosing to ignore them? With a sigh, she moved to whereTidus sat. "I'll stay here with you, of course," she offered.

"I can stay, too, " Koji agreed. "If you want me to, that is."

"Me three," Rikku volunteered. "Do you honestly think we would leave you up here on this mountain top all alone?"

Tidus shifted his gaze toward his friends. "Thanks, but someone's got to take Shinra back down the mountain to the teleport sphere."

"Hm, you've got a point there," Rikku agreed. "For all his braininess, he's not much good at fighting fiends."

"I'm just a kid," Shinra added, using his old excuse.

"Okay, then. I'll escort him to the teleport sphere," Rikku changed her mind and stood.

"Alone? Is that safe?" Koji countered with concern. "Maybe we should split up in pairs. I can go with Rikku and Shinra, and you two can summon Arantisu to guard you here."

Yuna smiled at that suggestion. "That's a great idea, Koji. And while Tisu's here, Tidus can teach her some magic." She turned to him with a pleased expression.

Tidus's eyes narrowed with disbelief, as if he missed part of that conversation. "What?"

"Tisu wants to learn shape-shifting magic, and Lulu said you would be the best teacher because of your ability to control your own composition. It would give you something to do, and it would make her very happy. She really likes you, you know." Yuna gave him a hopeful expression, blinking as pretty as could to persuade him.

Rikku giggled. "'Tisu likes him? Like, _likes him_ likes him?"

Yuna grinned and nodded.

"Awww, that's so cute!" Rikku looked at Tidus and snickered.

"My boy is baby's first crush." Koji wiped at fake tears and puffed out his chest before draping a congratulatory arm across his friend's shoulders. "I'm so proud of you."

Tidus winced with skepticism. "She's a _dragon_."

"Which is why I don't envy you having to tell her you already have a girlfriend. She's probably going to roast you like a marshmallow. Good luck with that." Koji gave his shoulder a encouraging pat, then stood to join Rikku.

"But I don't know how to teach magic," Tidus complained to Yuna. "And you're not supposed to be summoning her."

"I'm not supposed to summon her where Meimo is a possible threat," Yuna countered. "Arantisu should be quite safe here. This used to be her home, you know. She might enjoy seeing it again."

Bored, tired, and frustrated, Tidus gave up with a sigh and dug into his backpack for a bottled drink. "Whatever ..." He pulled out a box of noodles, too, and pulled the tab on the side of the box that would release the two chemicals in the outer liner. Setting it down, he waited for his dinner to warm itself.

Yuna smiled at his reluctant compliance, then gestured toward the priceless documents that Koji held. "May I take a look at those while you and Rikku are escorting Shinra back down the mountain?"

"Oh, well, ... I thought I should take them back to the ship where they could be safe," he hesitantly admitted as he passed them to her.

"They probably will be safer on the ship than here," she agreed. "But I think that in light of what Bahamut and Baralai told us, it's a good idea for us to know exactly what it is we've found. I'll select just one for tonight." Yuna spread the documents before her and grouped them into categories. Cut and bandaged palms together before her nose and lips, she stared down at the items wondering which one to start with first. One book caught her attention and suddenly the whole collection gained new perspective. "Spira's journal?" She drew the ancient book toward herself with care and opened it to make sure she had read the handwritten note on the cover correctly. "Maedra must have used these documents to teach Spira how to summon. Yevon must have found them centuries later and used them to teach himself, and then teach his daughter, who in turn taught the other temple summoners. At least, that seems like the logical way to pass along this kind of knowledge, doesn't it? Considering the nature of some of these spells, though, I'm very curious to see how Captain Spira felt about them."

"Should I still take the rest with me?" Koji asked.

Yuna hesitated, but then nodded.

Koji bent to scoop up the remaining documents and put them in his backpack.

"Rikku, could you stop by Bevelle on your way home?" Yuna asked. "Baralai needs to be told he can stop searching for Yunalesca's documents at the temple, now that we found Maedra's spheres. In fact, ... I don't think we have any further use for Yevon's sphere now. You can give this one to him." She passed the sphere containing Yevon's recorded message to her cousin.

Rikku grinned as she accepted the valuable treasure. "Sure thing! And I'll come back tomorrow with more food, okay?"

Yuna nodded in gratitude.

Rikku moved to the doorway and waited for Shinra and Koji to join her. Then, she slipped an arm across the smaller boy's shoulders and waved to the friends they were leaving behind. That was when the com-link in Yuna's ear buzzed with static, and Buddy's voice carried through.

"Yuna, can you hear me? Brother just got back from Bikanel. There's rain in the forecast. Cid thinks the big squid is turning into another Sin, and his trigger finger is getting itchy again. Any ideas what's going on?"

))((

Tidus took a sip of his bottled drink and watched Yuna's expression dampen as she received the message from the com link in her ear.

She glanced to Tidus with sad concern. "So … Bikanel has rain. I understand why Cid's upset, but I don't think sacrificing the squid will change the weather. Rikku and Koji are escorting Shinra back to the Macalania teleport sphere, then they'll return to the ship for the night. Maybe tomorrow you should check in with Shinra or Gippal. Since they've been working on the water at the lake, they might have some answers about the rain." Yuna paused, obviously listening to the other half of the conversation that Tidus couldn't hear. "Me? I'll be staying with Tidus tonight, but tell Uncle Cid to try not to worry, okay?" She paused again, this time distressed. "What? No, tell Brother I'll be fine. No, he doesn't need to come." Yuna blushed in embarrassment. "No, that's not necessary, really. Yes, I know that, but -"

Tidus frowned and impatiently slipped the com-link from her ear to press it over his own. "Brother? Buddy, yeah, it's me. Tell Brother that Yuna said she's planning on coming on to me tonight. So if he shows up to chaperone us while she's making moves on me, she's going to kick his -"

Yuna gasped and grabbed the com-link back from him before he could finish that thought. "Don't tell him that!"

It was too late. Buddy could be heard laughing while Brother could be heard cursing loudly in Al-Bhed. Tidus snickered to himself at his prank and returned to his drink.

Exasperated, Yuna clicked off the communications link. "You are unbelievable sometimes."

He shrugged, innocent of any wrong-doing, but continued to chuckle to himself. "At least I feel better now. You wanted to cheer me up, right?"

"Not like that." She sat back on her heels and dug into her supply pack for her own food and a drink, but the injuries to her hands made it a slippery, painful task.

Tidus pulled her bag toward him and gathered the items for her. "You're too nice for your own good sometimes. Brother's always shoving it in my face that I'm not good enough for you, or that he's going to take my place the next time I fade away." He opened the drink for her. "You need to put him in his place about it, or he'll never shut up."

Yuna smiled at his complaint and accepted the drink with her fingers, since she couldn't hold it well with her hands. "Well, he did take your place recently ... to fuss at me when we were fighting the squid. Otherwise, I would have done something foolish. I think you would have been proud of him."

Tidus snorted with doubt as he pulled the tabs on her noodle box to start warming it as well.

"No one could ever really take your place." Touching her bandaged hand to his cheek, she leaned forward to give him a small kiss of reassurance.

"See? I didn't lie. You _are _coming onto me. And Wakka said that would never happen ..." Tidus scoffed with a smirk and picked up his own drink once more.

Yuna laughed lightly. "Then Wakka was looking out for me, too, … even if you _did_ tell him about our favorite stargazing place."

Tidus nearly choked on his drink and coughed his way through the swallowed portion. "What? I would never tell Wakka about our favorite stargazing place. He must have misunderstood something else I was saying."

"Oh, stop making excuses. You know what you told him." Amused at his panic, she drank some of her drink and picked up Spira's journal while there was still enough daylight for reading.

Suddenly, a snapping buzz from the solarium, caught their attention, so that they looked at each other with curiosity and uneasy speculation.

"That didn't sound like any fiend that I know of." Tidus put a hand on his sword. Cautious, he stood and walked toward the balcony as a gust of wind swirled through the broken windows and cracks of the ruins. Lifting his eyes to the sphere of magical waves that encompassed the observatory, he saw that the earlier rainbow colors were gone. Streaks of electricity were now running through the clouds in their mysterious surroundings.

"What happened?" Yuna asked as she joined him on the balcony overlooking the waterfall. "It looks kinda haywire out there."

"Shinra said it was probably some kind of weather spell. Maybe it's just sending thunder to the Thunder Planes, or something," he guessed.

"Rain in Besaid and a weather spell at the top of the world acting up ... Do you suppose there's a connection?" she wondered as she studied the electrical magic.

"It's just a little rain."

"No, Tidus, there's no such thing as 'just a little rain' in Besaid. It never rains there. Just like it never rains in Bikanel." Yuna looked to him with worry.

))((

The Gagazet teleport took Rikku, Koji, and Shinra back to Macalania, and from there they trekked back to the lake together. When they arrived, they were surprised by a windy downpour falling from a dark, gray sky.

Shinra ran straight to Gippal, anxious to see the results of his formula. "Did it work?"

"Like a charm. The black water has been crystallized and scooped into barrels for transport, uh, ... somewhere. We don't know where yet. But, digging underneath pipes, it's clear that there's been extensive damage." Gippal gestured to where his machina was hard at work collecting the polluted substance. "The infrastructure broken up by the tree roots is basically flooded with the same anti-magic stuff, so there's no telling how much got out to other places." The Machine Faction leader paused and straightened. "I wish I had something better to say, but it doesn't look good."

Shinra's eyes shifted toward the dug-out construction, where a thin, black vapor rose from the ground, as if still burning away any magic underneath it. "My experiment with illusionary reconstruction helped Yuna find Maedra's magic documents. I want to try it here." Shinra set up the same equipment he had used in the mountain ruins.

"Huh?" Rikku scratched her head. "Are you looking for a sphere here?"

"Maybe he can use it to see what happened and reverse the damage," Koji suggested.

"I wish it was that easy, but you're half right." Shinra put his sensory device back together and began scouting the bleak area for readings. "I might be able to, at least, see what happened and why."

Paine approached from the far end of the lake. Wiping a hand across her mud-smeared cheek, she lifted her face to the sky and shielded her eyes from the rain. "Is it my imagination, or is it coming down harder now?"

"It's coming down harder," Gippal confirmed her suspicion.

"I've never seen it rain like this here before," Rikku stated the obvious.

"Did you find what you were looking for in the ruins?" Pain asked of Koji.

"Yes." He grinned and patted his backpack. "Yuna's already reading a journal written by Spira, but I'm taking everything else to the ship for safekeeping."

"We found a sphere of Yevon! Look!" Rikku exclaimed as she fished out the reconstructed sphere and played it for Paine and Gippal.

"Guys?" Shinra interrupted after a few minutes. "You'd better come take a look at this."

Rikku turned off the sphere as soon as it finished, and all of them moved to Shinra's side, where he showed them the energy imprint he just took.

Gippal's mouth twisted with skepticism. "Okay, no offense, but blurs of shadow and light mean absolutely nothing to me."

"There were three people here recently," Shinra explained as he pointed to the shadows on his imprint. "Someone came here with a fiend, messed around with the tree's roots, and then cast a spell over the water. Judging by the amount of light emitted in the ripples, it was a white magic spell. Anyway, they left, but then another fiend came out of the water. Only this fiend's dark shadow _became_ a blur of light."

Paine's brows dipped to match her frown. "You're saying someone killed a fiend here?"

"Ehhh?" Rikku leaned forward with interest. "What's the big deal about that? We kill fiends all the time."

"I'm saying something dead came back to life – of its own power. That means it was an incredibly strong fiend. But once it transformed, it cast destructive magic over the white magic in the water, and that's when the explosion took place." Shinra was hesitant to put in it perspective the way he saw it. "Considering that the pool was tampered with beforehand, I think we just witnessed the murder of a very powerful spirit." He looked up to his friends with concern.

Gippal folded his arms. "Okay, dumb question here, but why would anyone want to murder a spirit? Spirits are already dead."

"Unless they're still walking around as unsent," Shinra answered, his gaze going to Koji.

Koji frowned somewhat defensively at the connection. "Well, don't look at me. I've been with you guys the whole time, and my interest is in living, not dying all over again."

Rikku tried to make sense of their discovery. "Maybe the fiend that was fried was a really mean spirit, you know? Like how Shuyin used to be mean."

Koji's frown deepened. "Shuyin was many things, but he was never mean."

The thief winced with sympathy. "I know he was your friend and all, but … Shuyin tried destroy the world not too long ago. Maybe he was a nice guy when he was alive, but after a thousand years of stewing in his own anger, … he became pretty mean."

"What if Meimo doesn't want revenge on Yuna and Tidus?" Paine spoke, offering a connection that none of them had considered before. "What if he wants revenge on Shuyin?"

Rikku's expression pinched. "Why would Meimo want revenge on Shuyin?"

"Shuyin is the one who defeated him. Remember?" Paine stepped away from Shinra and faced Rikku, Gippal, and Koji. "Shuyin also helped Tidus escape, _and_ he's the one that killed Meimo's partner in crime."

The small thief gasped realizing Paine had a valid point.

Shinra stood and faced them. "You think that bright light was Meimo obliterating Shuyin?"

Gippal shook his head at that theory. "But Shuyin's in the Farplane, … isn't he?" He looked to Koji. "What would Shuyin be doing in Macalania?"

Koji gave a somber shrug. "I … wouldn't know. I haven't been to the Farplane. That's why I'm still here. Maybe Tidus should try to summon him and ask -"

"No," Paine asserted with an absolute gesture, discouraging any further thought along that line. "It's too dangerous for Tidus to channel Shuyin's spirit. He might lose himself, like he almost did last time."

"But Shuyin's too powerful for anyone else to summon, right?" Rikku looked to her friends. "And not even Shuyin's powerful enough to bring himself back to life. This must have been someone else."

A gust of wind swept through the woods, and the patter of rain continued to fall harder. Thunder could be heard overhead, and lightning could be seen in the distance.

In disgust, Gippal looked up at the sky. "That dam isn't going to hold much longer if it continues to rain. We need to hurry and patch the pipes before the sun goes down, so we can leave."

Paine nodded in reluctant agreement, then looked to Rikku. "Are you going to be in Besaid tonight?" When her friend nodded, she continued. "I was supposed to ask around on the island about that old man, but I've been too busy here. Would you mind doing that, since it looks like you'll get back before I do?"

"I'll help," Koji volunteered. "He seems to have an affinity with me anyway for some reason."

"Probably because he's seen you paling around with Tidus. If he's Meimo, he'll have an interest in Earth. If you run into him, see if you can get him talking about that."

Koji nodded in acceptance of his mission.

"Hey, your first assignment." Rikku grinned. "You're on your way to becoming a Gullwing, like one of us, huh?"

He returned a small smile, glad to be considered a member of the team.

))((

After saying their goodbyes, Rikku and Koji ran back through the marshy woods to the travel agency and touched the teleport sphere again. This time, they traveled to the bridge of the Celsius.

Cold and wet from standing so long in Macalania's downpour, Rikku pulled her garment grid from her pocket and started to change into a dry dress sphere before going on to Bevelle to give Yuna's message to Baralai, when she became aware of a sound against the deck above. After looking to Koji with surprise, she put away her grid and ran to the bridge where she found her father and Buddy in a discussion. Brother was slumped over his control seat as if mourning a deep, deep loss. Behind them she could see rain pouring down the windows. Her heart sank as soon as she saw it. She had heard the stories among the Al-Bhed. _If the desert has rain, Sin comes again._ "Is it raining in the desert, too?"

Her brother, for once subdued in his mannerism, looked up and nodded to confirm her fear.

))((

Yuna turned away from the weather spell surrounding their ancient hideaway in the sky. "I'd better start reading. Would you mind going below and getting one of the torches?" she asked of Tidus. "I know the weather is bad, and I don't have any magic left to cast a nul-lightning spell on you; but it's going to be dark soon and -"

"No problem." Drawing his sword, without a word of complaint, he gave her an assuring smile and left the solarium to step into the storm.

Yuna sighed at his confidence. She usually worried for his safety more than he did. It was always that way with him. Trying not to think about his headstrong way of doing things, she summoned her staff and swirled magical glyphs in the air. In a flash, Arantisu's aeon was drawn into the solarium to stand before her.

The baby dragon yawned and stretched, then turned around in awed amazement to look at the structure she was standing in.

"Good evening, Tisu," Yuna greeted her with a small hug. "Tidus has agreed to teach you shape magic while I read. Is that okay with you?"

Arantisu made a strange noise from her throat and nodded with excitement.

"I think this used to be your home. It's not much now, but it was probably very pretty when your mother and father lived here, don't you think?" Yuna gently explained as she watched the small dragon walk around the place, sniffing and holding her face to the wind coming through the open spaces. Pleased, that her charge seemed curious and happy, Yuna returned to her backpack and attempted to detach and unroll her bedroll, in spite of her tender hands.

When Tidus returned, he was soaking wet, but unharmed. Folding his shirt over his shoulder and arm as a cover, he had managed to protect a nearly doused torch from the lower level all the way back into the solarium. But as soon as he came in from the rain, Arantisu surprised him, nearly bowling him over in her rush to greet him. "Hey! Watch it! I'm glad to see you, too, but stay off me. Can't you see I've got fire going on here?" He struggled to keep the torch high and dry as he attempted to walk around her, but his battle was lost the moment she started licking the rain off of his arms and stomach. With an abrupt, involuntary laugh, he jerked away, but then released his shirt to clamp one hand firmly over her snout, stopping the flow of drool and trapping her forked tongue half-way between her teeth. "Cut it out!" he scolded.

Yuna giggled at them from the shadows of the interior room. "Looks like she found your tickle zone."

"She's going to find this torch under her tail, if she doesn't stop licking me."

"She's just eager to start her magic lessons."

Keeping his vice-like grip on her, Tidus lifted the dragon's snout to meet her wide-eyed gaze. "I have to put this torch down now because I don't want to get burned, … and I don't want to go back for another if it goes out. And then, I want to eat. So, if you want me to teach you anything, calm down and stay off me. Understand?"

Arantisu happily bobbed her head several times to show she did.

Tidus let go of her snout and waited for her to obediently sit back on her haunches. "That's better." Though he doubted the calm would last for long, he walked past her to look for a place to put the torch. "That slimy tongue's just … disgusting," he muttered, wiping the drool from his hand on his wet shirt.

Yuna settled on her bedroll with Spira's journal. "Did you have any trouble?" Pulling her noodle box near, she pried the lid to see if it was warmed through yet.

"Keeping the fire from going out in the rain was a challenge." Using the rocks and tiles he busted up from the floor, he made a pseudo-campfire and set the torch in the middle. Once the torch was secure, he helped Yuna move her things closer to it. Then, he set his own bedroll close to the fire and changed into a dry sphere from his grid. Grabbing a pair of wooden eating utensils from his pack, he pulled back the top of his noodle box, swirled them around in the sauce on the bottom, then lifted a long, steamy strand to devour.

Arantisu's neck stretched, and her nostrils enlarged to sniff the spices.

Tidus glanced at the dragon, but then deliberately popped the noodles into his mouth.

Yuna sighed at their stand-off. "If you eat in front of her like that, you'll only make her want it. Look at her."

"I'm trying not to. Those eyes are a trap. You do kitten faces; she does doggy faces. Either way, I can't win. How come she never wants your food?"

Arantisu clumsily stepped over his stretched out legs and then sat down next to him to lick her jaws and stare at the noodles. The dragon lifted her eyes to him for a moment, but then returned her gaze to the noodles as she shifted restlessly in her seated position.

Finally, Tidus gave an obligatory sigh and divided the box of noodles, dropping half of them on the ground. The baby dragon eagerly lapped up the shared treat.

Yuna smiled at his surrender and opened her book to read, when her com-link buzzed with static again. "Yuna here," she answered. It was Rikku updating her on the news from Macalania and the rain in Besaid. It was a mixture of good news and bad news, but one piece of information stood out among the rest. "You think someone tried to erase Shuyin from the Farplane?"

Tidus stopped chewing and lifted his gaze to her with surprise.

She glanced to him. "Rikku says Shinra has evidence that someone obliterated a spirit at Macalania - that's why the water was changed. She also says Paine thinks Meimo might be after Shuyin, rather than you."

"Should I try to summon him?"

"Absolutely not." Yuna turned her attention back to the com link. "Rikku? We'll go to Zanarkand tomorrow and see if we can find Shuyin's spirit wandering in the ruins." Her eyes turned back to Tidus. "But if he's not there, we're not going to risk summoning him. It's too dangerous." She paused to hear more, then thanked Rikku for the updates and clicked off the communicator. "She sounded scared."

"For Shuyin?" Tidus almost laughed at the idea. "He's been sent already, and he kicked Meimo's butt the last time they met. I don't think Shuyin has anything to worry about from that loser." Finishing his noodles, he set aside his drink and stood in front of the dragon. "Come on, you. Let's go practice somewhere else, so Yuna can read in peace."

Yuna smiled to see him taking the dragon with him in spite of his earlier complaints. After she finished her own noodles, she set aside the empty box and opened her book again. A few pages into it, however, she was distracted by their lessons on the other side of the solarium and looked up to watch their progress.

"No, no, no. Like this." Bright sparks of energy could be seen in the shadows beyond their campsite as Tidus gathered energy around his hand. Casting a circle of bright magic over his whole body, he shot to one side of the dragon. But as she turned her head to the left, he was already standing to her right. She quickly snapped her chin to the front, but in a blur of movement, he tapped her from behind. "If you want to be bigger, you have to draw enough energy to make up the difference."

Arantisu stood on her hind legs, balancing on her thick tail. She clenched her fists, and stretched her arms. She squinted her eyes tight and concentrated on drawing as much energy within herself as she could. First, her hips blew up, ... then her tail, ... then her head, ... and, after a long moment, then her arms, feet, legs, and hands. She was now as big as an adult ronso. She was pleased with herself, but one more burst doubled her entire body all at once, and Tidus suddenly found himself squashed under a dragon that filled the solarium and weighed a ton.

"Get ... off!" he gasped for breath. "Yuna! Get her off of me!"

Yuna put a hand to her mouth and tried not to laugh.

Tidus gave up his struggle and rested his cheek against the cold, tile floor. "How does she always manage to do this?"

"Think small thoughts, Tisu" she called in encouragement. "Try hard! You want to learn how to change your size so you can join us on the ship, not so you can squash us, ... right?"

The dragon nodded and squinted her eyes shut again. Energy snapped and cracked over her body giving Tidus an unpleasant jolt in the process. Her head shrank, but nothing else. Yuna gasped with fright thinking she now had a headless dragon, but then Arantisu's tail, belly, shoulders, and legs followed, shrinking the rest of her body down to size. In fact, she continued to shrink until she was the size of a kitten. She growled in disgust at her mishap, but it came out sounding more like a squeak.

Tidus sat up with relief and tried to stretch his aching back. "Okay, that needs a little more work," he sarcastically remarked, as the tiny dragon fell backwards trying to climb up onto his lap. Picking her up, he returned to the campfire and presented the kitten-sized aeon to Yuna. "Your fierce dragon, milady."

"Oh! Tidus, what did you do to her?"

He drew back and planted his fists on his hips. "_Me_?"

"Oh, my poor baby!"

"I didn't do anything to her. She turned _herself_ into a pocket monster. She's capable of shape-shifting, but she's not very good at it."

Holding Arantisu face-to-face like a baby, Yuna laughed at the way the dragon's belly protruded and her toes spread in the air, as if afraid of such great heights. "You did this all by yourself? Great job, 'Tisu! If you stay this size, you can go anywhere with us."

Tidus snorted. "And if a fiend so much as sneezes on her, she'll get blown away. If we don't step on her first, that is. Why can't she be happy with her normal size and just learn how to fight better?"

"Tidus," Yuna mildly scolded. "Arantisu is a lady. She's probably sensitive about her size. Besides, this might have its uses, too, right?" She kissed the little dragon on her snout.

He rolled his eyes and returned to his bedroll. Sprawling on it, he propped an arm behind his head. "Yeah, like getting lost coins out of rain gutters, or raiding mouse holes for leftover cheese."

))((

Baralai was in his private quarters getting ready for bed when he heard the knock at his door. It was a slight knock at first, but then repeated impatiently multiple times. "Just a minute, please," he called, grabbing his bathrobe. Tying and snapping the ties into a quick knot, he headed through his formal living quarters to the door and pulled it open.

"Baralai! Baralai! Ba ... ra ..." Rikku stood in the doorway, obviously on the verge of delivering an urgent message, but something had abruptly stopped her. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen a praetor of Yevon wearing a bathrobe before. And you're not wearing your blue head-band thingie. I didn't realize your bangs were so long since it keeps them out of your eyes. This is kind of like seeing a turtle without its shell."

Baralai quirked a brow at the comparison. But she had come to see him at the temple after dark in the middle of a bad storm. "What's wrong, Rikku?"

"I-I came to bring this." She held up the Yevon sphere, but deliberately averted her gaze.

"The turtle isn't naked. He's just wearing a different shell." Baralai shook his head at her strange behavior, accepted the sphere, and stepped aside to invite her in. "You're soaked."

She winced in embarrassment and hesitated. "I might drip all over your carpet."

"I think my carpet can handle it. And contrary to popular belief, the praetor of New Yevon does have a life beyond the temple, … which occasionally includes sleep, or talking to troubled friends."

"You were asleep?" She snickered in a sheepish manner. "Guess that would explain the hair."

Baralai sighed and lifted the sphere. "This must be very important for you to deliver it this late."

"Um, … yes, it is." She stepped inside and watched him close the door behind her. "You don't have to look for Yunalesca's sphere anymore. We went to the ruins above Mount Gagazet and Shinra helped us find Maedra's magic, and now Yunie and Tidus are there all alone, and Macalania is black and sucking magic out of the Farplane, and Koji's out in the rain on Besaid trying to find an old man, and -"

"Who's Koji?" None of the rest of her rush of words made sense, but that name stood out as unfamiliar in the midst of the rest of them.

"Oh. You met him. Mekoshiko isn't Meimo; he's really Shuyin's best friend, Koji. Didn't Yunie and Tidus tell you?"

"_Shuyin's_ friend? But he'd have to be a thousand years old by now to have lived when Shuyin did." Baralai's dark eyes narrowed. "He's unsent, isn't he?"

Rikku didn't want to answer because she could tell he was getting upset. "Oh, but he's not like Shuyin. He's very nice."

The praetor turned away from her in disbelief. "_That's_ why Yuna wanted the information on aeon magic? Not just for Tidus, but for an unsent!" He turned back to her with a frown of disapproval. "She can't bring Shuyin's friend back from the dead! Do you understand what kind of monster that would create?"

"Oh no! Forget I said it! Really!" Thunder crashed overhead, startling both of them. Rikku cried out, shook her head, and buried her face in her hands, as nervousness almost pushed her to tears. "Okay, I'm not completely over it yet! Not when it's that loud and that big!"

Baralai drew back. Her fear of thunder was unexpected, and he certainly didn't want to compound her unease by dragging her through an exchange of words better left for Yuna. "Rikku, I'm sorry. I'm not upset with you. Yuna didn't tell the whole truth about why she wanted me to look for the source of Yevon's aeon magic."

Rikku sniffled and wiped her eyes. "But everything's going wrong all at once. And now it's even raining in the desert, and the only time it rains in the desert is right before Sin wakes up."

This made no sense to him, but Baralai led her to the sofa and sat down with her, facing her, holding out the sphere she had given him. "Let's start over, then. Why don't you tell me what this is," he suggested. "Slowly this time."

))((

Rain was now pounding the tiny island of Besaid. Koji pulled his shirt over his head to brace himself against it as he ran, slipping and sliding down the muddy hill to the village gates. No one else was out on a stormy night like this. The wind blew mercilessly through the outer tent-like drapes of the village huts, but their storm doors had already been shut tight against it. Koji's attention first went to Wakka's hut and thoughts of his small family, safe and warm inside. But he ran for the temple instead.

Inside the temple, he stood dripping in the doorway for a minute. A handful of priests were praying, frightened of the unusual weather, but the person he sought was not there. He started to turn and leave, but then reconsidered and proceeded to one of the hospitality rooms toward the back of the main hall. Visitors were sometimes offered sleeping quarters and free food if the people they came to see had no space in their small huts for them. He had guessed right. The old man was seated at a low table, calmly pouring himself a cup of tea. Koji hesitated, but then crossed the brightly colored tiles on the floor and stepped over the cushions to face him from the other side the table.

))((

Meimo didn't look up until he had finished taking his first steamy sip. When he did, he saw that the young man's clothes were soaked, his long dark hair was plastered to his neck, and his lips trembled with cold. The sight amused him, and his sly smile reflected that. "You can't be that cold. Only the living are capable of feeling anything real."

Koji's eyes narrowed with a sneer. "I feel it because I remember it. _Don't_ tell me what I can or cannot feel."

The old man pushed his straw hat back from his eyes. "Memory is a tricky bastard, isn't it? It can fool both the living and the dead. Pyreflies thrive on such trickery, but they are still pyreflies, none the less. And they can always be sent … away."

The young man stood silent and still for a long moment, as if debating whether to walk away or sit down.

"Well?" Meimo prompted. "Did you come here to complain about the weather, or do you actually have something worth my time?"

Koji removed his backpack and opened it to pull out the remaining buried magic notes. He paused with reluctance, but then set them on the table.

The corner of Meimo's lips curled slowly as he straightened with interest. "This is everything?"

"Yuna kept one – a journal."

Meimo sifted through the documents, then stood and tucked them back into Koji's pack. "Well done, boy. I knew you could do it. Come." The old man placed a hand on the young man's shoulder, and in a swirl of teleportation magic, both of them vanished.


	18. Chapter 18:Coming Together Falling Apart

Chapter 18: Coming Together While Falling Apart

Yuna spent the majority of the night reading by the fire. Tidus settled his head on her lap to read with her, but was out within the first five pages. She smiled at how he slept so easily like that in strange places and absently sifted his hair though her fingers as she continued reading, but eventually he became uncomfortable and rolled away from her into an even deeper sleep. Arantisu had returned to her normal size after her shape-changing spell wore thin, so the baby dragon moved to settle against the blitzball player's legs, propping her head on his calves. Yuna smiled at that, too. In spite of the fact that they were hiding from a murderous criminal and sleeping in ancient ruins at the top of the world, this calm felt almost normal. Almost …

))((

After a few hours, Tidus tried to reposition himself and found that he couldn't move. Annoyed, he sat up, scowled at the dragon on his legs, and pushed her away. Luckily, the dragon was sleeping so solidly that she didn't wake at all. He was about to roll onto his side and go back to sleep, when he looked to Yuna's bedroll. The book was there, but Yuna wasn't. Instead, her silhouette could be seen by the window in the solarium. That meant she was suffering from insomnia, deep in thought, or both. Sighing to himself that neither was probably a good thing right now, he stood and stepped over the sleeping dragon. Moving through the dark to her side, he leaned on the balcony rail inside the windows. He said nothing as he watched her, watching the lightning flicker and subside alternately in the spell that surrounded the top of the tower. But his nearness eventually evoked a response.

"The name of this place is Sora Shi," she informed him with a distant tone in her voice. "It was the first city to be built on SBD-26. That's the name Spira was given while it was under construction."

Tidus was mildly surprised to hear this. It wasn't what he expected her to be thinking about. "Sora Shi? I guess Spira's journal covers a lot more than just her impressions of Maedra's magic."

"Mh," Yuna softly nodded in agreement. "The Space Bio-Dome was the first successful international experiment to see if people could survive on a man-made planet, in case Earth needed to be evacuated someday, for whatever reason. Initially, everyone lived up here ... in Sora Shi. But as soon as the ecosystem stabilized, they built cities on the plains and shores below. Zanarkand and Bevelle were two of those first land cities. There were others, but I didn't recognize their names. Sin must have destroyed them after the Machina War. That would explain why Spira has so many other ruins that no one can identify."

"But, ... I thought the colony ship was a failure. That's why Maedra had to create the Farplane to save it."

"The colony ship was successful for a while, but an attack from an alien ship caused a system failure. Spira fled to a safer vicinity, then Maedra saved them by casting a spell over the entire ship that joined all of Spira's life energy to the plane of magic - or 'gateway to other planes far beyond our reach', as he called it." Yuna smiled lightly. "Captain Spira shortened it to the Farplane." The summoner's soft voice continued in the darkness. "Maedra cast this spell around the tower to use the Farplane's energy to regulate the atmosphere. According to Spira, he used to come up to this observatory every day to manually check the controls, so that each environment was cared for _just right_. But when the Founders took the ship from her, they destroyed his controls."

Tidus turned his attention back to the storm spell thundering and snapping around them. Weather like that probably could blow the entire ruins off of the mountain, but inside the solarium, in the eye of the torrent spell, they were comfortably insulated. Tidus stared at the charges of electricity that jumped from cloud to cloud as the wind carried them in a southerly direction.

"Spira knew the ship would die without Maedra manning the controls, so she requested to take his place managing the flow of magic - forever. He sacrificed himself using a spell similar to that of the Final Aeon, to make her the _ship's aeon_. Instead of being bound to a stone disk, her soul is bound to the Via Infinito. And she's been in that place ever since, reliving her death in order to keep time going for the rest of us. The souls in the Farplane _create_ life energy, but she stays in pain, so that no other souls have the burden of _taking_ life energy. It's so sad. And yet there must be death, or there will be no room for life."

Tidus remained focused on the spell that was regulating the storm. "And what if this spell fails? What will happen?"

"Probably the same thing that happened when the Founders destroyed Maedra's manual controls. The captain said in her journal that the ship's atmosphere began falling apart. It made her so angry that she wanted to launch an attack on Earth in return for their attempt to destroy all life on this ship. But she knew revenge wasn't the answer." Yuna tilted her chin toward him and lifted her two-colored eyes to meet his. "She just wanted the people of Spira to live, even if it meant she had to die."

He couldn't help but remember their conversation in Macalania that night when it first became clear to him that the summoner wasn't _supposed_ to return from the pilgrimage to Zanarkand. "She sounds a lot like you."

"I don't think I could do what she did, if I had been in her place."

"You were willing to sacrifice yourself for the Final Aeon, so the rest of Spira would be safe."

Yuna shook her head. "I don't have the courage to die again and again for all eternity. I can't even live with taking one person's soul to restore another." She looked as if she was going to cry as she turned away from him. "If I bring a dead soul back to life, no matter what form he takes - even if he looks human - it will be a corruption. It would be like cooking a meal with spoiled meat, but telling yourself it's okay because it looks good, though you know it will make you sick. Only the living, untainted by death, can be transformed into aeons with their souls in-tact. The only thing that can be resurrected from a dead soul is a demon – a fiend."

Tidus frowned. "That's not true. It can't be."

"Those are Spira's words, according to what Maedra taught her. And we see it every time we encounter fiends."

"Shuyin was long dead when the Fayth used him to make me."

"You're not a dead soul – not like Koji."

"Oh, right. Because I'm not even real to begin with. I'm just an illusion," he muttered with disgust and looked back out to the storm. "Well, at least now we know that it's _possible_ to restore Koji to life. You just don't _want_ to."

Yuna turned to face him, distraught. "It's possible, but please don't ask me to do this, Tidus. I feel for Koji - really, I do - but you can't ask me to bring him back now that I know what it takes to do it."

"Then what's he supposed to do?"

"Rest."

"He doesn't want to."

"He must."

Tidus became angry. "And if he refuses to go then you'll _send_ him?"

"If I must."

"I've been to the Farplane, Yuna. It's not like sleep. It's more like complete and total non-existence. I didn't want to rest either, so it started pulling me apart and erasing my memories."

"Because you're -" Emotion caught in Yuna's throat preventing her from continuing.

"Because I'm not real. Yeah, I get that. But Shuyin was real, and he wanders the Farplane because he doesn't want to rest either. It's like an eternal prison to some spirits. You don't realize what you're asking of Koji."

"I wasn't talking about Koji!" she snapped as she wiped away unwanted tears.

He drew back, confused and irritated. "What?"

Yuna hesitated to answer, but she knew he was counting on her to be honest. "Spira said Maedra was able to make illusions real. He was able to create things from magic, but then bring them to life."

Tidus was speechless.

"The Fayth's dream magic was drawn from the _memories_ of the dead, rather than their souls. And since you came from dream magic, there is more to you than Shuyin's soul. The Fayth must have used their memories of Shuyin to complete your illusion. Maedra knew magic that could give illusions life – real life. Much of Spira's ecological reconstruction was done with this kind of magic. But, a soul from the Farplane must give up _all_ of himself in order to do it. His knowledge stays behind as part of the stream of energy, but his sense of self is destroyed and rewritten in order to become a new life."

"You mean ..."

"Shuyin would have to cease to exist in order for you to become real," she explained, her voice barely above a whisper as another tear rolled down her cheek.

Turning his back to the rail, Tidus drew a breath of excitement and ran a hand through his bangs. "But if anything happened to Shuyin … I still have part of his soul. Would I forget who I am? Wouldn't I still be tainted by death because of that?"

"I don't know," Yuna quietly answered. "You are so different, ... even from what Spira claims Maedra could do." She drew an unsteady breath, but nothing could stop the tears. "I could try to change you, but ..." She sniffled and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. "I'm afraid," she admitted. "We could lose what we have for the sake of something uncertain. And Shuyin ... He's finally happy with Lenne in the Farplane. I couldn't …" Yuna broke into sobs, torn between what Tidus wanted and what she couldn't ask Shuyin to do, especially since there was no promise toward a better outcome.

Taking her in his arms, Tidus drew her to his shoulder as he considered the possibilities. He could be real! It was possible! But at what cost? The excitement gradually faded. "Shuyin … He waited a thousand years to be with her. I can't ask him to give himself up like that. In fact, he'd probably reduce me to a grease spot if I did," he lightly added.

Yuna lifted her gaze to his and smiled in spite of her tears. "I know how much this means to you. It would mean a lot to me, too, but ..."

"I understand."

Relieved, but sad, she sniffled and let her head rest on his shoulder once more. "Do you also understand why we have to convince Koji to let go of this life, so we don't have to use force to send him? I know he was your best friend, but … there is no way this can turn out good for him."

"I suppose," he reluctantly agreed. Hooking a finger under her chin, he coaxed her to lift her chin and pressed his lips softly to hers.

When he pulled away, Yuna opened her eyes. "I think I'm done reading for tonight. I think ... I'd rather spend the rest of the night with you."

His eyes narrowed with caution, but then rose in question.

Yuna smiled with amused confirmation.

Sliding an arm around her shoulders, Tidus led her away from the solarium and back into the darkness of the inner observatory. Pausing at the torch-campfire, he picked it up, and cast it into the rain to extinguish it.

Yuna placed Spira's journal near her backpack and fished the garment grid from her pocket to place beside her bag. "Could you unfold my blanket please? It's difficult for me." She held up her bandaged hand and wiggled her stiff fingers.

Tidus tried kicking his bedroll closer to hers, but ended up dragging it, instead, because of the sleeping dragon on the bottom half. Then, he tossed his own garment grid toward his belongings and snuggled down over her in a body hug that threatened to suffocate her. "Human blanket," he explained, trying to keep a straight face.

Yuna laughed at the unexpected pounce. "I meant a _real_ blanket," she protested, crushed beneath him.

"You said you didn't care if I wasn't real."

"You're real enough to get me a real blanket, aren't you?" She continued to giggle, but her fingers found the hem of his shirt … and the same ticklish zone the dragon found earlier.

Tidus's reaction was almost electric as he laughed and scrambled to escape. In his defense, however, he reflexively caught and squeezed her hand to stop the torture. When the summoner yelped at the pain and jerked her hand back, he realized his mistake too late. "Ah! Your hand! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" He sat back on his heels and carefully turned over her bandaged hand in his own to see if it was bleeding again. But without the torch light, it was too dark to tell. "I am _such_ an idiot. I can't believe I forgot about your hands."

Yuna draped her wrists over his shoulders, behind his neck, careful not to flex her fingers too much. "See what happens if you fool around when you're _supposed _to be getting my blanket," she lightly scolded, though she was clearly humored at his foolishness.

"Fine, I'll get the stupid blanket." He backed away to retrieve it, but as he did so, her fingers snagged the back of his shirt, so that it rode up his ribs and over the back of his head. Tidus stopped struggling to untangle himself as soon as he heard her snickering lightly at her little joke. "You realize, of course, I can't actually _reach_ the blanket if you're holding onto my shirt."

She stretched it further down over his head, snickering a little more. "Maybe I don't want the blanket anymore. Maybe I want the shirt."

"This is the thanks I get for offering to take care of you?"

Yuna giggled. "No, this is what you get for not getting my blanket when I asked nicely."

Tidus snorted and drew himself out of the shirt to let her have it. Then, grabbing her blanket, he _fwoomped_ it open on top of her. "Anything _else_, princess?" he sardonically asked, settling back down at her side.

Yuna laughed and pushed the blanket off of her face. "Yes, I think I've changed my mind. I don't want the blanket or the shirt." Careful to rest only her fingertips against his skin so as not to aggravate the tender cuts on her palms, she traced the shadows on his arms, chest, and face. "I just want you." She lifted her head enough to place a warm kiss on his collarbone.

One small kiss sent tingles over his entire torso. Tidus shifted and lowered himself to meet her halfway for the next one. His tongue swirled over hers, hungry for more, but then he drew back with a sultry smirk and lowered himself more to return the kiss to her collarbone, following it up with another against her neck and beneath her ear.

))((

Yuna's eyes drifted toward the windows of the solarium and the weather spell that separated the ruins from the night sky. Then, she closed her eyes to concentrate on each of his sensual gestures. This was her favorite part of stargazing, even when no stars were visible. She was only briefly aware of the fact that she could no longer hear thunder outside – just a steady, gentle rain pattering against the observatory's dome and walls.

))((

After Paine, Gippal, and Shinra finished fixing the infrastructure beneath the pipes, the magical stream was able to bypass Macalania without leaking. The spring was empty of its former water supply, but already refilling with heavy rainfall. Trudging through rising, muddy water, they pulled up their blockades and sandbags and stacked them near the barrels of crystallized anti-magic. Then, Paine sat down on the stack of sand bags to rest. "Well, that's it then - except for what to do with these." She bumped a barrel with her elbow.

"Baralai might have an idea what to do with them," Shinra suggested as he stood shivering in the cold, wet darkness packing up his lab supplies.

Gippal waved his hand. "I'm done for the night. It's raining buckets of cats and dogs out here. And they're carrying more buckets of even more cats and dogs. The rest can wait until tomorrow. I've got to get these machines back to Bevelle anyway. I'll talk to him about it then." He reprogrammed the machina, then Paine hooked an arm around Shinra's shoulders, and the trio followed the clunking, chinking, robotic helpers back through the dark, stormy woods to the abandoned travel agency.

Their destination had just come within view, when four pairs of glowing eyes appeared among the trees and surrounded them. The black-furred creatures looked more like ghostly shadows in the night, but there was no mistaking their very real growls and the red hot glow of their tongues of flame - bandersnatch.

Paine halted her advance and drew her longsword, instead. "Not good."

Gippal backed up between his machina and pulled a remote from his pocket. "Definitely not good. Get Shinra inside. I'll try to cover you."

Paine nodded in agreement with the plan and used an arm to shield the boy toward her back. "Stay behind me," she warned. Then, keeping her sword between herself and the growling pack of magical wolves, the warrior cautiously continued leading her companions toward the agency. "Those are Gagazet creatures, aren't they?"

"Usually." Gippal punched a new command into the two machina he stood between. "What would they be doing this far south?"

"Who cares as long as they still have a weakness to heat."

"Dr. P, you read my mind." Gippal pressed a button on his remote, and as two of the three machina shot flaming missiles at the pack, he ran to reset the offensive program on the third.

"Run!" Paine grabbed Shinra's coveralls and raced for the agency's door, but then threw him behind her again, just in time to catch a bandersnatch with a sidelong cut that opened its belly. "Get inside! Now!"

As the rest of the pack rushed forward, Shinra sprinted the rest of the distance to the door. It was stuck, so he struggled trying to open it for a moment. When it finally gave way, he looked back to Paine and Gippal with worry, but then obediently hurried inside and closed it behind him.

The second wolf jumped at Paine before she could recover from the recoil of the first attack. The warrior growled in frustration at her initial misstep, but then cried out in pain as its teeth sank deep into her forearm. Powerful sleep magic was injected into the bite before the wolf attempted to take a mouthful of flesh with him.

As the first two machina took on the other wolves, Gippal finished programming the third machina. But then he realized it was as likely to hit Paine as it was the bandersnatch that was holding onto her. Quickly, he changed his mind and hit the reset button. The missile-firing machina had made short work of their first two targets, and were now turning their sights on the wolf tussling with Paine. Gippal ran to the other two machina to stop them before they risked friendly fire as well.

Paine fought the drugged sensation and raised her long, heavy sword against the bandersnatch, but the angle was awkward. The wolf was too close! Before she could use the garment grid to switch her longsword for daggers, the warrior slumped into the mud. The sleep spell had completely taken her.

"Paine!" When she didn't respond, and the wolf opened its jaws for another bite, Gippal picked up a large rock and whipped it toward the animal's head. "Leave her alone! That's right! Come on over here, you son of a -!"

The snarling animal was on him before he could even finish his threat. The Al-Bhed grappled with the wolf, trying to keep its jaws away from his hands, face, and neck. With a grunt, he turned toward his machina and pushed the wolf into the bushwacker's long, spiked blade, impaling the lupine straight through. Breathless, Gippal stared at the blood-covered blade protruding from the corpse and waited for the fiend to disperse into pyreflies. When it didn't, he turned to look at the other bodies, but all three of them were gone. "Three to one," he muttered unhappily to himself, then jogged to Paine's side and scooped her into his arms. "Shinra! Open up!"

The door to the travel agency opened up, and Shinra stared wide-eyed at Paine's bloody arm as Gippal approached.

"Get her sword."

"Is she okay?"

"I don't know! Get her sword! Before more of them show up!" Gippal snapped and swept past him to take Paine inside.

Shinra hurried to pick up Paine's favorite weapon. He blinked at the wolf impaled on the machina, but then hurried back inside to close and lock the door again.

Gippal laid Paine on the polar bear rug on the floor and immediately split her sleeve to take a closer look at the bite. "This looks bad. I got a potion to heal the wound, but I don't have anything to wake her up. You got anything?"

Shinra dropped her sword at her side and fetched his bag to dig through his lab supplies. "No, but ..."

Gippal grabbed a cloth from behind the counter and tied it above the wound as a tourniquet. "But _what_? She needs to wake up so she can drink the potion."

"Well, it's kinda lame, but I've read stories where sleep spells can be broken by a kiss."

Gippal stopped tying the cloth and faced Shinra as if he'd lost his mind. "She's bleeding to death, and you're feeding me fairy tales?"

"I don't have anything else."

"Then go look somewhere else!" he impatiently ordered.

"I'll check the store room, then." The youth gave up on his bag and left to search elsewhere.

The elder Al-Bhed snorted at the sheer stupidity of the suggestion as the boy disappeared into the back chambers of the agency. "A _kiss _… Of all the idiotic ..." He snorted again as he sat down next to Paine and dug the healing potion from his pack. "You'd slap the _bejeezus_ out of me for one thing," he told her, as if she'd been listening. "Course, you'd have to actually wake up before you could slap me, and since you're drugged, my reflexes might be quicker this time." Covering the tip of the vial with his finger, he sprinkled a bit of the potion over the gash on her arm, but he was afraid to do much more. He was no healer, but he knew healing needed to progress from the inside out or a deep wound's surface could scar horribly. "And you did blow on my neck, earlier," he reasoned as he drew her blood-stained bangs away from her eyes. "You were being a smart-ass about it, so turn-around is fair play, right? I should do it just to spite you."

Sighing at her lack of argument, he considered everything they went through together during their time in the Crimson Squad. Paine was usually the one that ended up mending him, Baralai, or Nooj – not the other way around. "You gotta wake up, Dr. P. You have to drink this potion." Rising to his knees, he leaned over her, close. "Just don't tell anyone," he whispered before lowering himself to her cold, wet lips. He hadn't realized _how_ cold she was until he kissed her.

When Gippal drew back, he saw no sign of improvement in her condition. His worry turned into frustration because he knew he shouldn't have expected anything. But that's when his peripheral vision caught Shinra standing behind the front desk. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough." The boy blinked at him with unmasked amusement as he held up a potion. "I was kidding when I said that, you know."

The color in Gippal's cheeks deepened. "Give me that bottle, you little toad."

"Uhn ..." Paine stirred beneath him and opened her eyes. At first she seemed confused about why he was hovering over her so close, but then she frowned.

"It worked?" He blinked with surprise. "I mean, I can explain!" Rising to his feet, he immediately moved away from her. "See, we needed to wake you up so that you could take the healing potion for your arm. The little toad behind the counter suggested a kiss might do the trick, so I - would you like that healing potion now? Healing potions are good." Gippal snatched the bottle from Shinra and offered her both potions with a smile.

Paine's eyes narrowed. "You _kissed _me?"

"Accidentally, I swear."

She quirked a brow of doubt. "You _fell_ onto my lips?"

"I thought you said you were doing it to spite her," Shinra answered, looking to Gippal.

"_Not_ helping!" Gippal grabbed a floor pillow and acted like he was going to throw it if the little toad said anything more.

Shinra shook his head, took his antidote back from Gippal, and returned it to the store room.

After the boy left, Gippal faced Paine with an irritable expression and gave her the remaining bottle. "_Don't_ look at me like that. Just ... drink your freakin' potion." Sitting on the floor, he let his head fall back against the front desk, draped his elbows over his knees, and sighed. At least the emergency part of this big embarrassment was over now.

Paine sat up and looked at the terrible wound with the tourniquet around her arm - his attempt at first aid while trying to revive her. Uncorking the healing potion, she drank it down and watched as her skin began to regenerate and mend itself. When the wound had completely closed, she removed the tourniquet and quietly offered the bloody band back to him. "Thank you."

Gippal shook his head in disgust. "Hey, it's the least I could do after everything you helped with yesterday and today at the lake. That was a difficult job, but you stuck it out. I don't think we could have managed if it had been just Shinra and me. I mean, he's grown a little, but he's still a scrawny egghead, right? That job needed muscle."

Paine sighed, then leaned forward to place a tired, but delicate, kiss on his lips. "I mean, … _thank you_," she whispered. Placing the empty bottle in his hand, she picked up her sword and sheathed it. "Let's get this machina back to Bevelle, shall we? I'm ready to go home," she decided, then headed back out in the rain.

Mildly dumbfounded, Gippal gave his lips a subtle lick and tasted a bit of healing potion that lingered. "Shinra! We're going home!" he called before standing and following her.

Paine went straight to the machina holding the body of the wolf that attacked her. "Nice piece of work."

As she grabbed one side of the carcass, Gippal grabbed the other, and together they tugged the heavy animal away from the machinery, dropping it into the mud. "Three out of four this time. We're losing more real animals than usual to fiends." He reprogrammed all three machines to march into the travel agency so he could teleport them back to Bevelle, but then he lingered behind with her and rubbed the tension from the back of his neck. "This, um, ... This is going to be awkward now, isn't it. Because I don't know whether you want to slap me, or laugh at me, or ..."

Paine responded with a smirk, but then walked back inside.

Gippal sighed up at the rain. "Great. What does the smirk mean? I have no idea what the smirk means." Giving up for now, he followed the warrior inside and shut the door.

))((

Rikku explained everything to Baralai - everything from Koji's request for a second life to the fact that it was raining in the desert. When she finished, Baralai stared at the sphere in his hand and tried to streamline her meandering ramble into organized thoughts. Then, he pushed the play button to watch Yevon's last recorded message to his daughter. When it finished, the praetor sank back in his sofa with a sigh. "The original sphere is probably here in the temple after all, but … may I hang onto this copy until we find it?"

"Yunie said you could have it. That's why she sent me here."

"Is Koji with her now?"

"He's in the village looking for the old man that was asking a lot of questions about Tidus."

"And you think that the spirit destroyed in Macalania was Shuyin?"

"Well, ... we don't really know who any of the shadows were, and we don't know if Meimo has that kind of power, but, if you think about it, he has more reason to hate Shuyin than Tidus. Maybe Tidus isn't the one he's after this time."

Baralai frowned deeply at her news and looked out the window at the rain pouring down. "Maybe not," he muttered. Standing, he disappeared into his bedroom, only to return a few seconds later with a towel for the small thief. Then, he returned to his bedroom and closed the door.

With a chill, Rikku pulled the towel over her cold, wet shoulders and looked around Baralai's personal chamber. Artifacts and symbols of Yevon were everywhere, but the room itself was simple and comfortable. She decided it suited him well, but her thoughts kept returning to the desert rain and Sin. If Sin were to return ... She just couldn't imagine anything worse than that. She was about to slump in despair when someone else knocked on Baralai's door.

"Wow, he really _is_ busy to have multiple visitors at this time of night." Having nothing better to do, Rikku answered it. She was surprised to see the other visitors were Paine and Gippal.

Likewise, both of them were surprised to find Rikku in Baralai's private quarters. And they were even more surprised when the praetor came from his bedroom half-dressed, in just his pants and carrying his shirt. Gippal exchanged an amused glance with Paine, then cleared his throat. "Uh, ... we didn't interrupt anything, did we?"

"No, but I have urgent matters to attend," Baralai answered behind Rikku as he joined them at the door. "What did you need?"

"Oh, hey, I understand completely." Gippal had trouble keeping a straight face. "I know you don't get much personal time because of your job, and all, so you go right ahead and take care of those urgent matters. We'll give you a few minutes, ... or thirty, if you like," he added with a wink.

Rikku blinked stupidly at him for a few seconds before she gasped aloud in embarrassment. "Gippal, you perv!" Grabbing his ear, she jerked him forward into the room.

"Ow! Ow! OW!" He rubbed his ear as soon as she released him. "Mother of Yevon ..."

Baralai sighed at his friend's teasing and slipped the shirt on. "You deserved that, you know." He gestured for Paine to follow Gippal inside. "Is there a _reason_ you're here?"

"Probably not the same reason as Rikku's, but ..., " Gippal gave a sly shrug, which earned him a flat expression from the praetor and a smart punch in the arm from the scowling thief. "Ow! Lighten up. I'm just messing with your head." He gave her damp braids a playful scruff.

Rikku knocked his hand aside, but retained her frown. "Well, _you're_ in a good mood. Maybe I should make crass jokes about you."

"Totally uncalled for," Gippal quickly warned.

A little too quickly, perhaps. Rikku's brow quirked with interest.

"Did you get Macalania fixed?" Baralai asked as he tied the cloth belt over his loose tunic.

"If you can call it that," Paine answered. "The spring's filling with rainwater, but the magical water is flowing somewhere else now."

"And we have a life-time supply of anti-magic crystals for you," Gippal offered on a more serious note. "What should we do with them?"

"Have them stored in the dungeons. Our alchemists make anti-magic in small amounts to charge the cells and bracers, so no one can use magic to escape - no one except Meimo, that is," the praetor corrected himself under his breath.

Gippal yawned. "Okay, well, message delivered, and I'm bone tired after two days of slogging through mud in Macalania. I'm going to bed."

"Do you still have monitors in the Via Infinito?" Baralai asked as his friend reached the door.

"Yeah, but there's nothing in there that needs repairing, so our attention is usually elsewhere."

"Wait a minute." Baralai headed back into his bedroom.

Gippal gave a tired sigh, folded his arms, and looked to Rikku. "So what _are_ you doing here, then? Wearing just a towel," he added.

"Oi." Rikku frowned and unfolded the towel to reveal her soaked thief sphere underneath.

"Oh. Well, those shorts are so short you can't see them under that big, fluffy cape. Don't blame me for getting the wrong idea."

The normally crisp and proper praetor emerged fully dressed this time, but his hurried style looked more like something Tidus or Wakka would throw together. He had also summoned his double-ringed spear into his hand. "Let's go."

"Where?" Rikku asked, reluctantly setting the warm, dry towel aside.

"To the Farplane."

Gippal's nose crinkled in distaste. "Excuse me? I need sleep."

"Not now – not yet." Baralai led his guests to the lift and down to the main lobby of the temple. "I need you to do a diagnostic on the Via Infinito's energy level and tell me if it's changed any since your last readings." He touched the com-link in his ear. "Let me know as soon as you have it."

"Awww, man, it's always something with you." The lift stopped to let Gippal off where the Machine Faction's monitors were set up for repair efforts underground. "No wonder you have urgent needs," he grumbled as he disembarked.

Baralai smirked to let him know he heard that, but then tapped the controls, taking the lift down into the dungeons.

"Oh! I just remembered!" Rikku blurted. "Shinra has an experimental new crystal that uses dark aeon goop to drain anti-magic."

"Yeah, we told him that, already," Paine reminded her of the reason for her own visit.

"Do you think Meimo had something like that to help him escape?"

Baralai stepped off of the lift and led them through the underground maze at a strong pace in an exact direction. "If someone slipped him something like that, it would have been detected on our cameras. From what we saw, one minute he was acting distraught, like he was having hallucinations, or something. And the next minute, he was gone." He passed by a guard post and paused. "Ready a small unit and go to Besaid," he told the warrior monk. "We have reason to believe Meimo has been spotted there disguised as an old man. He might be with a man who has blue hair."

"Black hair," Rikku corrected. "Well, actually it's a very, very dark brown, but it kinda looks black, … except when he turns a certain way in the light and you can a little red highlighting. He's kinda tall with a really nice build and -"

"Don't alert him to the fact that he's being watched." Baralai continued to the warrior monk. "Just contact me if you see him and wait for my orders, but be ready to move quickly with hush grenades. His magic is unpredictable, so don't give him a chance to use it."

The warrior monk bowed and hurried off to set the task in motion.

"My description was better than yours." Rikku frowned at being rudely interrupted.

"Your description was for Koji; we're after Meimo," Baralai clarified with short smile. "At least there's not that many old people in Besaid. I'm sure they'll know which old man doesn't belong there just by asking a few questions." He continued his pace leading them further under Bevelle.

"What's there to describe about an old man?" Rikku shrugged as she followed. "Koji looks like he's about the same age as Tidus. Maybe a little younger. I'm not sure how old he was when he died, but it's always a shame when someone dies young."

"That's why he wants so badly to have a second chance," Paine added.

"Yes, but sometimes, just because we _can_ do something, it doesn't mean that we _should_." Baralai stopped and turned to face them. "Would you want to see him turned into a monster?"

"No, but ... maybe it doesn't have to be that way." Rikku's voice softened sympathetically. "Maybe he could just come back as Koji, you know? Yunie would never purposefully do something bad like that, Baralai."

"Not even for Tidus?"

Rikku held her tongue because she honestly couldn't be sure about that answer. She started to say something else, but Baralai held up a finger to indicate he was receiving a transmission from the com-link in his ear. The small thief waited patiently as a grim look washed over the praetor's face.

"All energy levels in the Via Infinito are higher than normal and rising," Baralai repeated Gippal's report for the girls. "Gippal, I need you to get the same readings for the Farplane's energy level and locate Spira's ghost. Turn on all monitors until you find her."

Rikku's brows rose in surprise. "Spira's ghost? Did something happen to Spira?" She and Paine both leaned close against Baralai's head to hear Gippal's communication.

"Negative, man. I can't find her anywhere," Gippal reported over some static. "Monitors on all levels are blank except for ordinary fiends. Wait ... There's someone in there - no, two people."

Baralai frowned with doubt. "In the Via Infinito?"

"Both are wearing summoner's robes. One looks like an old man."

Paine became alert with suspicion. "An old man in the Via Infinito? That's got to be Meimo."

"The other is a spirit taking shape and ..." Gippal paused. "You're not going to believe this, but … it looks like ... Maester Seymour."

"_Seymour_?" Rikku's voice rose an octave.

"Holy Yevon," Baralai swore under his breath, looking as if the blood had drained from his face. "It's worse than I feared. Rikku, Paine, go back to the Celsius. Get those magic documents and hide them. Don't let anyone lay a finger on them! Understand?"

"But ... what's going on?" Rikku asked with worry.

"Energy levels in the Farplane are dropping rapidly, Baralai," Gippal's voice came through the static. "We've got big problems here. Neither one of these planes are stable."

Before Rikku or Paine could ask further questions, Baralai swore again and took off running down the hall toward the portal to the Farplane.

Rikku and Paine were left exchanging looks of confusion and worry. "Come on," Paine urged and ran back toward the exit. They rode the lift back to the main lobby, where they reached Gippal and his monitors to see what was going on. "Is the old man still there?"

"Both gone - teleported out."

The warrior slammed a fist on one of the machina set up. "I knew it!" She was beginning to show her stress and fatigue as she nervously rubbed a patch of fresh, pink skin on her arm. "We're going back to the ship to get the magic documents. Keep us updated."

"It's too fast. It's dropping too fast." Gippal shook his head in disbelief. "Damn it!" Jerking his chair aside, he ran to the lift to descend and check the most vital controls of the ship himself.

Rikku had never seen such unusual anxiety from both Gippal and Baralai, but as Paine ran for the teleporter outside of Bevelle, Rikku raced into the night rain to keep up with her. Thunder crashed through the downpour, and for a moment, the thief was paralyzed, screaming and trying to cover her head. All her hard work overcoming her fear of storms had been erased in this madness. And what was happening to the weather now was definitely madness. It didn't take an Al-Bhed in a wet desert to notice that.


	19. Chapter 19: Torn

Chapter 19: Torn

"Koji!" Rikku called as soon as she and Paine arrived in the cabin of the Celcius.

But Koji was nowhere to be seen.

Paine and Rikku ran back to the lift and down the hall to the bridge of the airship, but he wasn't there either. "Where's Koji?" Paine demanded of the only other crew member present.

Brother gave them a strange face for being drenched from head to toe, and he took note of Paine's bloody, but newly healed, arm. "He went to question the old man in the village."

Rikku's brows rose with concern. "And he's not back yet?" She turned to Paine. "He left at the same time I did. You don't think Meimo did something to him, do you?"

"Koji was bringing Maedra's documents here for safekeeping," Paine told Brother. "Did you happen to see where he put them before he left for the village?"

"Maybe he left them in the loft," Brother suggested.

The small thief nodded in agreement, and the two women ran back to the lift. When they arrived in the cabin once more, they ran up the stairs to the loft and scanned the beds, futon, and table tops. Paine began opening footlockers, and Rikku leaned over the rail to scan the bar and table tops below. "I don't see them. Wait ..." As she mentally retraced her steps when she and Koji first returned to the cabin, her mouth drew into a pout. "Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think he came back to the cabin at all. I think he went straight to the village."

Paine grasped Rikku's forearms and met her with a stern gaze. "If Meimo and Seymour get their hands on those documents, nothing good can come of it! Are you sure Koji took them with him?"

"Oooh," Rikku whined under the pressure to remember exactly what happened. "Koji left when I did, so I think he forgot to take the documents out of his bag."

"We've got to find him." Paine ran back to the lift with Rikku in tow. They rode it back down to the bottom of the airship, but by now the storm had intensified into typhoon conditions.

In spite of the downpour and blustery winds, they ran across the beach and down the muddy road toward the village. Puddles were beginning to take over some of the low points inside the gates, but they splashed through them where they could not go around them. It was dark, no one was outside, and searching the entire island under these conditions seemed impossible, so they went to Wakka's hut and banged on his storm door, instead.

Wakka slid the door open, pulled them inside, and quickly re-closed it. "Are you crazy or something? What are you doing outside in that mess?"

"Have you seen Koji?" Rikku breathlessly asked.

"If he's out in that storm, he probably got blown away, ya?" Wakka grabbed a towel to mop up the puddles near the door where they stood.

"It's very important that we find him. He might be in danger." Paine smoothed her wet hair out of her face. "Documents from Yevon and Maedra were found in the ruins above Mt. Gagazet, and Koji was supposed to bring them back to the ship, but we think he got in too much of a hurry and took them with him. If Meimo finds out, he might hurt Koji trying to steal them for himself - or worse. Gippal's monitors below Bevelle picked up a meeting between Meimo and Maester Seymour's spirit. I don't know what the meeting was about, but that can't be a good thing."

Speechless, Wakka turned to his wife with disbelief at the unexpected news.

"_Seymour_?" Lulu sat huddled with Vidinia on the floor. Usually nothing unnerved the strong-headed black mage, but at the moment, she looked uncertain as she held her crying baby and tried to soothe him.

Rikku and Paine spilled their stories about everything that had been happening over the past couple of days in the ruins and Macalania.

"But I thought we were finally rid of Seymour." Wakka sat down, head in hands. "He's trapped in the Farplane now. Shouldn't he have disappeared or something?"

Lulu looked to her friends with worry. "If Seymour gets his hands on Yevon's spell books, he might not be trapped in the Farplane for long."

Rikku gasped. "You think Seymour could use Yevon's magic to free himself?"

"No. But I think Meimo could use it to summon Seymour out of his grave," Lulu answered with a grim expression.

"Why would Meimo want to bring Seymour back?" Paine asked.

"You said the Farplane was losing energy. Perhaps Seymour could sense something is wrong with it, so he's trying to escape before it's destroyed."

"Or perhaps he's the _reason_ something's wrong with it, ya?" Wakka grumbled.

Lulu shook her head in disagreement. "Whether or not Maester Seymour has anything to do with it, Captain Spira is the one who is essential to the balance of magic in the Farplane."

"But Gippal can't find her," Rikku added.

Lulu seemed to be at a loss. "Then I have a bad feeling there is a connection between her absence and the Farplane's imbalance."

Paine recalled the shadows they witnessed through Shinra's mirror into the past at Macalania. "Maybe the spirit destroyed at the lake wasn't Shuyin. Maybe it was Captain Spira."

Wakka's brows drew together. "But if something happened to the captain and the Farplane, … does that mean something bad could happen to Spira? Is that why the sky is falling apart?"

No one wanted to acknowledge it, but they all sensed that an important piece of the recent-events puzzle had just fallen into place. Paine shook her head and tried to think logically as she began pacing in the small hut. "Okay, one problem at a time. We have to find Koji and keep those documents away from Meimo and Seymour. Baralai is sending troops to Besaid to search for Meimo. Maybe they can pick up the search for Koji, as well."

"If Meimo finds Koji with the documents, he might take them to the place where he once held Tidus hostage. Ask Baralai to send troops to Zanarkand, as well," Lulu suggested.

"Do you need help combing the village for Koji?" Wakka asked, standing once more.

Paine and Rikku exchanged glances, but then both shook their heads. "You have responsibilities here." Paine gestured toward Vidina. "Keep your family safe from the storm. If this is being caused by an imbalance of magic, it could get worse before it gets better." She reached for the curtain over the door.

"We'll let you know if Koji shows up, ya?" Wakka prepared to open the storm door again.

Rikku covered her head as she ran back into the rain. "Yeowaaaahhh!" She cried out as thunder and lightning split the sky. "I don't know how much more of this I can take!"

"Be careful out there! And good luck!" Wakka wished them well. "I think we're all going to need it," he added with a discouraged sigh before shutting the heavy storm door and locking it.

))((

Rikku and Paine were on their way back to the airship when Baralai's New Yevon warrior monks and guards arrived outside the village. They paused to speak with the captain of the unit briefly and asked him to keep an eye out for Koji during their hunt for Meimo; but then they continued their run toward the Celsius to escape the typhoon. Waves crashed onto the beach, and palm fruit trees bowed and splintered at unnatural angles. The gusts of wind were so strong, it nearly knocked them over a few times. And the cold of the deluge was beginning to sting areas of exposed skin. When they finally reached the interior of the ship, the storm sounded as if a large machina was roaring around them. Both women tried to shake off the excess water and took the lift to the bridge, where Rikku pushed Buddy aside and grabbed the com-link. "Yunie! Yunie please answer me! This is very important!"

The only response from Yuna's com-sphere was static.

Paine pushed in front of the thief to give a stronger, louder command. "Yuna! Koji's missing and so are Maedra's documents on magic. Meimo and Seymour were seen talking together in the Via Infinito earlier, but if Meimo has teleported back to Besaid by now … If he finds Koji with those documents ..."

Static snapped across the line, and there was still no answer.

"Damn it!" Paine hit the console. "Why isn't she answering?"

"Maybe we should we go back to the tower and see if she's okay?" Rikku worried.

"No, she's probably just ... with Tidus," Paine grumped and walked away.

Brother jumped up and barred her retreat. "You see? I knew it was a bad idea to leave them alone! I say, don't give up! Yuna could be in danger! Rikku is right. We should go see if she is okay - even if it makes Goldie Locks angry."

Rikku quirked a brow at her brother. "Don't you mean, _because_ it will make Goldie Locks angry?"

Brother shrugged. "If it makes Goldie Locks angry, that is none of my concern. He is nothing but magic. He can be conjured up again if anything happens to him, should he go _poof_! But Yuna -"

"Knock it off!" Paine bellowed at both of them. She was so cold that her teeth were almost chattering, but one scowl from the warrior was all it took to cower her captain into backing away. "I have spent two days and nights up to my knees in freezing muck, and I have just come in from a typhoon. I am _not_ traipsing all the way out to that mountain just so you can intrude on their privacy. Asking them to look for Koji up there won't help anyway, and by the time everyone comes back here, it may be too late. Bad news can wait until morning, but maybe Baralai's guards will have found Koji or Meimo by then." She drew close to Brother. "And you! If you love Yuna as much as you say you do, stop thinking about what _you_ want and start thinking about what _she_ wants!" When Paine paused to catch her breath, she realized everyone on the bridge was staring at her with mute surprise. It was a rare day when she lost her temper like that. "I mean ..." She meant what she said, but she knew she had spoken out of line. "I'm sorry. I'm just … I need sleep. I'll check with the captain of the guard in the morning." Paine turned away and stormed back to the lift.

Rikku blinked at her friend's departure for an anxious moment, but then turned her attention to her brother. Wide-eyed and open-mouthed, he looked completely scolded, and it took him a long moment to return to his driver's seat to mope. Glancing to her father and Buddy, who were probably better at consoling him than she was, the thief hurried out the door and caught up to Paine in the lift.

"I shouldn't have said that," Paine confessed after the doors shut.

"No, but ... it needed to be said. Are you okay?" Rikku asked with concern. "I don't think anyone's ever seen you this edgy."

"Just incredibly tired, ... and discouraged." Paine punched the button for the cabin and watched the lights indicate the progress toward their destination. "Why now? Why does everything have to go wrong just when things finally seemed to be going right?" The lift opened, and the warrior exited toward the bathroom without another word.

Rikku sighed at the thought of a hot shower and a long night's sleep as she made her way to the bar to wait her turn. "Koji," she muttered with sad worry as she lay her cheek on the counter and slumped in the bar stool.

"Woold Miss Rikkoo like shome ko-ko-a?" Barkeep asked, as he drew near.

"No, thanks. I don't think ko-ko-a can help this time." Rikku turned her other cheek to the table and sighed again. Then, she remembered something they had forgotten to do. "Ugh. Baralai needs to send a search party to Zanarkand." Rikku dragged herself back to the lift and returned to the communication system on the bridge, where she tapped into the com-sphere worn by the praetor of New Yevon.

))((

Gippal checked the main operations under Bevelle, but the results were the same every time. Complete system failure had not happened yet, but all his diagnostics pointed toward the inevitable. Over the past year, this ship's machina had become his special project - his refurbished masterpiece. No one knew the infrastructure of Spira better than he did, except maybe the spirit of Spira herself, ... but no one knew where she was. Frustrated, the Machine Faction leader gave up checking any more diagnostics and ran directly down to the heart of the matter, instead.

Just when he thought things couldn't look any worse, Gippal passed through the portal into the Farplane and saw that the misty falls which once cascaded over the fields were now running at a mere trickle. The flowers were fading so that the meadow itself looked thin. And the magically dense atmosphere echoed with the eerie moans of lost souls as pyreflies floated toward the gateway to another world. All around, the soft light of the superficial dimension was darkening like the pulse of a very sick creature. Baralai stood in the middle of that field, looking lost and helpless to prevent it from happening.

"Spira's dying," he spoke, breaking the haunting silence as Gippal approached.

Gippal surveyed the damage with a gut-sinking feeling. "Then I'm guessing the shadow obliterated in Macalania was Captain Spira, … wasn't it."

Baralai gave a small, barely noticeable nod. "Total system failure?"

"Not yet, ... but heading in that direction." Gippal was responsible for the ship's mechanical workings, and it disheartening to see the magical elements failing. But Baralai was charged with protecting the ship's spirit. Baralai had sympathized with Spira's pain, spoken to her on occasion, and kept her secret safe ever since he accepted his terms of office with New Yevon. Captain Spira's sacrifice was worth more than all the sacrifices of the other Fayth put together. She gave the planet life. She kept the balance going. None but a select few would know of her passing, much less mourn it. But Baralai knew better than anyone the extent of their losses without her. "Why would someone do this?" Gippal asked, holding back rising anger. "Why sabotage the entire ship? Nothing can be gained from this. Everyone is going to die."

"Not yet. Not today." The praetor of New Yevon kept his gaze on the pitiful condition of the waterfalls. "No one is going to die on Spira today. We need to focus on what we can do to prevent it from getting worse."

"We can't do anything. This can't be fixed."

He whirled on his friend in sudden anger. "That's not good enough!"

"I'm an engineer, Baralai, not a sorcerer or a healer! I can't fix this! I can't bring dead magic back to life with a few AI microprocessors and a good wrench! Only magic can heal broken magic, and if we don't know how to do that, then we're screwed."

"Not yet!" the praetor argued, but then lowered his volume upon hearing his own voice echo above the eery sounds from the field around them. "The people of Spira are depending on us. They look to New Yevon to heal what Old Yevon destroyed, and we won't let them down. We either find a way to get the failing systems back on-line, or we find a way to evacuate the ship for a safer place!"

Gippal sighed with heavy disgust and folded his arms at his chest as he considered their options. Raising a hand to his weary eyes, he rubbed the moisture from them before he gave in to his fears. "Then … we find a way to evacuate."

))((

It wasn't the option Baralai wanted to hear, but as he took one last look at the dying soul of their world, he knew it was the only option left. Perhaps the Farplane could be fixed, but if they spent their energy there while it continued to deteriorate, lives might be lost in the delay to escape, … if escape was even possible.

Baralai and Gippal headed back to the Farplane's portal in somber silence, but as they returned to the lift and rode back to the upper levels of the temple, static buzzed in the praetor's com-sphere.

"Baralai?" Rikku spoke from the control board at the Celsius. "Just wanted to give you an update. Koji is missing, and so are Maedra's documents. We think Meimo might have kidnapped him. Your guards are already searching Besaid, but Lulu thought it might be a good idea to send a search party to Zanarkand, too, since that's where Meimo's last hideout was."

"Consider it done." Baralai heard the tired sadness in her voice, so he couldn't bring himself to share his own bad news – not yet. "Thanks, Rikku. It's late. Get some rest." He clicked off the com-sphere and tried to remain calm, but his mind was spinning out of control.

When the lift reached the uppermost levels of the temple, Baralai marched to his office, instead of his private quarters, and used his com-sphere to call the captain of New Yevon's warrior monks. "Send search parties through every nook and cranny of Zanarkand. Dispatch smaller units through Bevelle and Luca. Contact Nooj, Tromell Guado, and Kimahri Ronso and tell them to search their own territories as well. Tell them Meimo may have abducted a young man with dark hair who was carrying some extremely valuable documents. Have them contact me as soon as possible. Also, send someone to pick up the Machine Faction's anti-magic ammunition left near the lake in Macalania. Distribute it to the search parties and bring the remainder here. I have a feeling we're going to be needing it." He glanced toward Gippal as he continued giving orders to the captain of his warrior monks. "Oh, and … warn everyone to be on the lookout for the possible return of Maester Seymour Guado."

"Sir?" came the puzzled response.

"_Seymour Guado, _Captain," Baralai repeated and clicked off the com-sphere before dropping into his chair. After closing his eyes for a moment to ease the headache he was getting, he lifted his gaze to his friend.

Gippal found a chair to drop into as well. He needed no further explanations. What he needed was sleep, but it was already turning out to be a long night.

))((

Meimo teleported Koji to the ruined Zanarkand temple before leaving to contact Seymour in the Via Infinito. Alone in the abandoned halls, waiting for the summoner's return, Koji wandered through the various pyrefly-captured memories of many unfamiliar faces – last words spoken between summoners and their guardians on their way to face Sin at the end of their pilgrimage. The tragedies that repeated on these grounds for a thousand years were enough to spook even a ghost. Koji shook his head at the losses, but then saw an astonishingly familiar face among them. "Jecht?" Since it was only a memory suspended in magic, the blitzball hero did not acknowledge Koji's presence. But Jecht wouldn't have recognized him, even if he had been real. Jecht had disappeared when Koji and Shuyin were just kids.

Koji watched in intrigued silence as the conversation played out between Jecht, the man that was probably Yuna's father, and the man they called Auron. Wasn't that the name of the mysterious warrior monk who served as Tidus's guardian in Dream Zanarkand?

When the memory faded, Koji wondered if Tidus and Yuna knew their fathers' last moments were suspended here. He reconsidered his conversations with Tidus about what happened to Jecht. And he couldn't imagine how Shuyin must have felt knowing he'd been used by the Fayth like that - to create a clone that would kill his own father.

Pyreflies flickered a short distance away, drawing Koji out of his distant thoughts, but these pyreflies were different from the ones bearing memories. The old man was teleporting back to him. Still clutching the box of treasures in one hand, Meimo flung out an arm to cast his cloak out of his way. "Stand back, boy. You are about to witness ... a miracle."

Koji backed up with skepticism and folded his arms at his chest while more pyreflies flickered in a floating stream of magic within the temple. The half-guado maester smiled as soon as he saw him, but Koji pretended not to notice. Instead, he sat down on a fallen column behind Meimo.

When his form had become as corporeal as a spirit could within the boundary of magic, Seymour approached him with a cool air of interest. "Mekoshiko, whatever happened to that nice blue hair Meimo gave you? I thought we had disguised you very well."

"My _name_ is Koji," he corrected. "And I had Meimo switch it back to my natural color after Tidus figured out who I really was."

Meimo dispelled his old man disguise, returning to his normal appearance: a tall man dressed in the colorful and multi-layered robes of a summoner. He had sand-colored hair, which he wore pulled back in a top-knot, but when he smiled, the smile did not extend to his intense, green eyes. "So, Tidus knows you are unsent and has no problem with your ties to Shuyin?"

"Actually, he's told me more about Shuyin than you did."

"Is that so?"

"He's been honest about himself, too. When you told me that Shuyin's clone killed Jecht, you failed to mention that Jecht volunteered to become the Final Aeon. In fact, you failed to mention the whole incident with Yu Yevon and Sin."

"It doesn't make any difference in the outcome. Shuyin's clone still murdered his father – a clone made from part of Shuyin's soul. Shuyin is a murderer."

Koji stood to confront Meimo. "Shuyin was an egotistical prat, but he never murdered anyone. And you didn't tell me that Lenne was executed at Bevelle, or that Shuyin tried to save her. What else are you not telling me about what happened after I died?"

Meimo smiled at the angry accusation. "My dear boy, I've told you everything that was important, and he was indeed a cold-blooded killer. As an unsent, he murdered many people, guilty and innocent, in his attempt to avenge Lenne's death. And then he tried to destroy the whole world before he was sent. But you were the first person he killed. Remember when I showed you Shuyin's spheres so you could see for yourself what became of him and Lenne after they got rid of you?"

"Tidus said … that Shuyin felt responsible for my death. He said Shuyin didn't intentionally leave me to die. He just knew he couldn't save me."

"And you know as well as I do that the only person Shuyin was ever capable of caring for was himself. Or did the clone fool your memories as well as your eyes and ears?" Meimo waved a hand through the pyreflies, and the memory magic began to take on new shapes – old, familiar shapes.

_Wearing a cold, grim expression, Koji entered the houseboat and looked around. "Lenne broke up with me a few days ago. Three guesses why."_

_"Me, me, and ... me?" Shuyin answered, as if denial was pointless._

_"I just want to know one thing. Did you hook up with her before or after she broke up with me?"_

_Shuyin averted his gaze, unable to give Koji the answer he wanted to hear._

_"Before or after?" Koji demanded._

_"Before," Shuyin quietly admitted._

_Koji slammed his fist into Shuyin's face and then shoved him back a couple of steps, but kept his distance after that as he continued to seethe with hurt and anger._

_Shuyin dabbed at the blood in the corner of his throbbing, busted lip, but he made no move to fight back._

"Stop it." Koji uneasily backed away from his own last living memory. "I don't need to see this again. I already know how it turns out," he told Meimo.

"But this is the whole reason you're here. Shuyin killed you."

Koji shook his head. "No. He didn't mean to."

"Really? Perhaps, you _do_ need to see it again." At Meimo's bidding, the pyreflies continued to reconstruct the summoned memory.

_"This is payback for that incident with Birana, isn't it?"_

_"No," Shuyin answered._

_"Then why didn't you back off?" Koji angrily demanded. "That's what you promised you would do if you knew I was interested in someone!"_

_"I did! I walked away, more than once! But she came back to me!" Shuyin reminded himself to stay calm. "Hit me again if it makes you feel better, but I can't walk away from her anymore. I haven't known her as long as you have, but she already means more to me than any girl I've ever met."_

_Koji snorted, shook his head, and laughed. "You know what? I almost believe you." With two fingers, he drew a slip of paper from his pocket._

_Shuyin opened the note to read it. It was his own handwriting - the note he had left for Lenne the morning after she stayed with him. "Where did you get this?"_

_"Her nightstand drawer."_

_Shuyin was appalled. "You searched her drawers? That's an invasion of privacy."_

_"You're the one having an affair with my girlfriend. Don't look at me like I'm the low life here."_

_"Well, don't blame me as if I was the only one guilty of making that call," Shuyin angrily corrected. "She's free to choose who she wants."_

_"But you knew how I felt about her!"_

Koji grimaced at his own words – words that Shuyin had first thrown at him in high school over another incident with a different girl.

"See?" Meimo spoke. "Shuyin knew how you felt about Lenne, but he didn't care. He had an affair with her anyway."

_"I'm sor -"_

_"No, you're not! You don't care about anyone else as long as you get what you want."_

_"This isn't some grand scheme to get you back. Neither one of us wanted to hurt you, Koji. If I'd wanted to hurt you, I would have called you up with the first kiss. The reason she delayed telling you was because she didn't want to hurt your feelings when you were already down - not because we were trying to play you."_

_"When she broke up with me, I asked if there was someone else. She refused to answer, so I knew you were the reason. When she left the room, it was just a matter of knowing where to look for the evidence. How do you do it, Shu? How do you get people to fall at your feet and worship you like that? Did you know that Kaila actually has an Abes poster of you on her bedroom wall? She got it at one of your games, but I'll bet you didn't even notice her in the crowd among all the other girls."_

Meimo snorted in wry amusement. "Didn't want to hurt your feelings, so he went behind your back. You knew back then that he wanted revenge. Are you too distant from your own memories now to see that? Do you not remember telling me about how he hurt your sister? How she never forgave him for using her as a little plaything?"

Koji remembered his sister crying in her room for days, too mad to speak to either one of them after he guilted Shuyin into asking her to a school dance. Shuyin had been the crush of Kaila's childhood, so neither of them could have predicted the disaster that would come of it when she found out about the set up. Groaning to himself, Koji buried his face in his hands, but the memory played on.

_Shuyin's anger softened. "If Kaila really wants to see me again, tell her to come to the doors at the back where the locker rooms are. I sign autographs there before and after games. I'll be more than happy to pull her inside for a private talk if she has anything to say to me. I never got to apologize to her like I wanted to."_

_"Well, don't count on her believing that. She's seen the news about your little barroom brawl, and I already told her that Lenne broke up with me because of you. She thinks you're a class-A jerk now, ... yet she still misses you. Explain that to me because it defies logic. It's as if you've got some kind of charm spell that allows you to get under people's skin. You can make them do whatever you want, and when they can't handle you anymore, they go insane. You're just like your father."_

_Shuyin frowned as that insult cut deeper than the rest of them. "At least I don't use people to further my own success. Who does Lenne know that you want to meet? What use is she to you?"_

_"I love her!" Koji fired back. "I had no intention of using Lenne. I learned my lesson about disrespecting people back in high school. You, however, apparently didn't. You hooked up with my girlfriend behind my back. Why do you have all the luck? It doesn't matter if I study hard, score higher, obey the rules, and be nice to the girl, ... because in the end, you will always get what I want. Nothing's changed since we were kids. You will always be the one to get the strawberry candy." He took a step closer to Shuyin. "In fact, it's beginning to look like the only way for me to get what I want ... is to get rid of you."_

_Shuyin backed away. "Koji, this kind of jealousy -"_

_"Jealousy?" Koji chuckled. "Jealous doesn't begin to describe how I feel about you anymore, Shuyin. When we were kids, I was jealous of the attention you got. Now, I'm just tired of you ruining my life." He drew a gun, unlocked the safety, and pointed it at his former best friend._

It pained Koji to remember how his best friend's eyes widened with fear and shock as he backed away and ran. "Strawberry candies ..."

_As Koji followed him down the stairs, Shuyin jumped up and caught a chin-up bar across the top of the door sill, pulling himself high enough to punch both feet toward the gun and kick him backwards. Koji landed against the wall, but didn't drop the weapon. Instead, as Shuyin dropped to the floor, Koji fired a shot. His quick reaction meant bad aim, and the bullet pierced Shuyin's arm, rather than his heart. By now, Shuyin was angry and frightened enough that his adrenaline took over. Having grabbed a heavy longsword from his father's closet, he swung the weapon with his uninjured arm and sent the gun sliding across the floor under the bed, but he also opened a gash in Koji's unprotected chest. _

_Stunned, Koji looked down at the blood. "You bastard, you actually cut me!"_

_"Because you shot me! Stop doing this! Stop comparing yourself with me before you make yourself crazy! I let you hit me because I know I deserved it, but I am not going to stand still while you point a damn gun at my head!" He paused a second to calm his rapid heartbeat. "Look, I know you're upset, but can't we just talk about this? Please? We can leave the weapons down here and go upstairs, and I'm willing to pretend this never happened. Okay?" He flipped the sword in his hand, so that the hilt was facing his former friend, instead of the blade._

_"Give Lenne back to me." The brown-haired young man's expression softened slightly at the request, revealing his heartache over this. "You have everything. I have nothing, except her."_

_Shuyin shook his head. "Koji, she's a human being, not a trophy. I can't just hand her back to you. The choice was hers, ... and she chose me."_

_Koji gritted his teeth and charged Shuyin in a head-on tackle. Shuyin lost his grip on the sword and dropped it, but he responded to the familiar game attack by elbowing, twisting, and finally kicking his way free._

Koji put a hand to his chest over the cut – a cut that had never healed until Yuna touched him with her magic. But he swallowed hard and began to sweat remembering what happened next.

_Running up the stairs and out the front door, Shuyin dove over the side of the boat. But, Koji followed to the side of the boat and dove under the dark, cold water of the bay, swimming after him with strokes just as powerful. Koji caught Shuyin's ankle and jerked him backwards. The blitzball players grappled again in another fight, both of them equal in strength and endurance to do such a thing under the ocean. But there was one major difference between the ocean and the sphere pool - fiends._

_The large water fiend rose up from the graves below the city, aroused by the scent of blood and the motion of their struggle. Tentacles longer than either of them lashed out and snapped against both young men like electrical whips. Shuyin released Koji to flee, but Koji was caught in a struggle with the monster that he couldn't win. His skin burned with sting after sting. His limbs were crushed by the force of the constrictions. And his lungs burned for air until they felt as if they had burst. Koji struggled to breathe, but his mouth and nose filled with sea water. His face felt cold and darkness began closing in around him. He stopped struggling at that point because he knew he had only seconds before losing consciousness … and life. Shuyin had left him to the monster, and he wasn't coming back._

The pyrefly memory faded. Koji gasped as if he couldn't breathe. He felt as if he was about to choke on water-filled lungs again.

"You told us you didn't see the surface of that water again for a thousand years," Meimo surmised. "You said seventeen was too young to die that way for that reason."

Koji sat back down on the broken column and clutched at his chest as he tried to regulate the mechanics of his unsent body to take in air again. A tear rolled down his cheek, but he shook his head. "It was my own fault. I pulled a gun on him."

"Because Shuyin always took what belonged to you! And then he led you into that water, straight to that fiend, and left you to die! All this time, you've been lurking beneath the Zanarkand docks hating him for what he did to you. All this time, you've waited for a chance to avenge your death – that hatred for him slowly turning you into the same kind of fiend that took your life to begin with. But he never once came looking for you. No one did, ... until me and my unsent friend came along. We can help you get your revenge, but now you're behaving as if all is forgiven between the two of you, and you haven't even talked to him yet! Tidus is nothing but a clone. He doesn't have any real connection to you. He has his own friends."

"Rikku told me I was one of them now."

"You can _never_ be one of them." Meimo grabbed Koji's hand and dusted a few pyreflies from it to remind him of his cursed state. "You're _dead_. This isn't even a body. It's borrowed magic." Meimo sighed with disgust as he released Koji's hand. "Fine. What would like to do, then? Return to them and pretend you have no idea what happened to the documents? Perhaps you'd like to tell them I robbed you to cover up the fact that you robbed them."

Koji saddened at his own betrayal. "My first Gullwings mission ..." He slowly shook his head. "I couldn't face them again if I had to. I'm done," he reluctantly decided. But then he turned a dark gaze up toward the summoner. "Just be sure to keep your end of the bargain about bringing me back - and I don't mean in another unsent body. I want to _live_."

"Why? So you can return to your _friends_? They'll kill you once they discover what you've done. Resurrecting a marked man is a waste of time, don't you think?" Meimo chuckled and dug into the box containing the magical treasures - Maedra's arcane notes, a book of spells, a list of glyph patterns, a book on ancient mythology, a list of enchantments, and several spheres. "Do they suspect anything yet?"

"No," Koji answered, scowling at the summoner. "Although I did tell them a strange old man was asking questions about Tidus."

Meimo chuckled again. "Good. Let them chase after shadows. It will keep them out of my hair a little longer. Where is Tidus?"

"The ruins above Mount Gagazet, ... with Arantisu."

Pausing in his pilfering of the treasures, Meimo lifted his gaze to Koji. "Alone?"

"Yuna's with him."

Meimo grinned. "Oh, that's perfect. I shall have to drop in and say hello."

Seymour had kept silent throughout the memory revelation, but the subject of Tidus and Yuna finally drew a sigh of exasperation and disgust from him. "Do we have what we need, or don't we?" he asked, drawing near to the documents as Meimo laid them out for him to see.

"Yuna kept a journal written by Captain Spira," Koji answered. "And Rikku took a reconstruction of Yevon's sphere to Baralai. But everything else Yevon buried before he transformed into Sin should be there."

"Ah, here we are." Meimo stopped flipping the pages of the large arcana tome and set it down, so that the half-guado spirit could read it. "Aeon creation ..."

Seymour drew near to the spell book and skimmed the page though his fingers passed through it. "I will need time to study it. With such a spell, we cannot afford to make mistakes. Go do what you must. But perhaps, … give my regards to the Zanarkand runt and bring me my bride. I can't wait to see her again." He bid his partner adieu with a sinister smile.

Meimo grinned and gave the maester's spirit a formal Yevonite bow. He started to head down the long, red carpet toward the temple's exit, but then paused and looked over his shoulder in annoyance. "Koji? Come."

Koji frowned at being ordered to do so. "I'd rather stay here."

Meimo frowned in return and summoned his staff. "I'd _rather_ you come along."

The unsent blitzball player considered his borrowed pyreflies and knew the gesture was a threat to send him. Sighing with resignation, Koji stood and followed Meimo out of the Zanarkand temple.

They were barely out the doorway and into the late-night downpour, however, when they spotted Yevonite guards clustering on the outskirts of the ruins near the new library. In spite of the wind and torrents of rain, they were arriving by large hover vehicles with bright lights and armed units. Meimo pressed a hand against Koji's chest to abruptly push him back. "Looks like they've decided to start searching for their missing documents already. We will have to set up residency elsewhere first and then teleport around the obstacles." Grabbing Koji by the sleeve, he led the way back to Seymour, so they could regather their treasures and quickly pick a new location to prepare for the rites.


	20. Chapter 20: Brotherly Love

Chapter 20: Brotherly Love

The next morning, Yuna wasn't aware of daybreak above Gagazet as much as she was the stillness of the air. Her eyes fluttered open, then focused on the worn, cracked ceiling that had sheltered them through the night's brutal storm. Now, all was strangely quiet. Sighing at the peace, she lightly stroked the lean arm draped over her and smiled at how soundly Tidus slept pressed up against her back. But a stitch of pain from the cuts on her palms reminded her that her first task of the day should be mending herself. She would not be able to safely go back down the mountain, if she couldn't afford to spend some healing magic, though she was still afraid to use too much, since she didn't know what other challenges the day might bring. Perhaps they should move from day to day, rather than assuming one shelter would be reliable enough to hide Tidus from Meimo. The feeling of peace gave way to a troubled sigh. That's when she noticed something else besides the quiet.

Her breath turned to mist as it hit the air. The air had become cold - very cold. It was so cold that she wondered how they ever managed to sleep through such a temperature drop.

Keeping her blanket close, Yuna sat up and reached for her garment grid. In a second, she was dressed in her warm trainer attire and Kogoro was sitting patiently at the foot of her bed. Summoning magic with her right hand, she healed the small cuts on the left. Then, with her healed hand, she unwrapped the bandage to see the larger cuts on the other. Dropping Brotherhood's tie on the floor, she reminded herself to wash it as soon as possible, so Tidus could have it back. The tie was red to begin with, but blood stains had turned parts of it black.

When both hands were back to normal, Yuna slipped away from the make-shift bedding and tip-toed into the solarium. Looking down over the waterfall, she gasped in surprise. It was solid ice. Snow was piling up in the corners of the windows and carved stone work around the mountain tower. The change had been so fast. Was it supposed to have been that fast? And why wasn't the tower insulated from the cold, the way it had been from the storm? Something didn't feel right.

"Rain, storm, snow ..."

))((

Aware of Yuna's absence, mainly because of the cold air that had taken her place, Tidus woke and rubbed his sleepy eyes. "Yuna?"

When she didn't answer, he sat up and scanned the gray, barren interior of the ruins, until he spotted her in the solarium. With a small snort of disgruntlement, he stood and pulled the covers close, creating a cocoon of warmth that did his bare feet no favors as he crossed the frigid tiles to join her. "You're supposed to be keeping me warm," he mumbled in complaint behind her before resting his chin on her shoulder.

Yuna smiled at his nearness and turned her head to give him a kiss. "Did you see the snow?"

He leaned over her shoulder to see the frozen waterfall and flurries. "No wonder it's so freakin' cold in here." Opening his arms and folding her within the blanket, he drew her against himself and shivered trying to recover lost warmth. "I wouldn't have put out the fire if I'd known it was going to do this. Crud. That means I have to go back in the lower levels to find another one." Disgusted at his lack of foresight, he buried his head into the nape of her neck.

"We're up very high on this mountain, and it's normal for ice and snow to be on Gagazet, but ..."

"But ..." he repeated, muffled, waiting for her hesitant statement to deliver more bad news.

"I just can't help but wonder if it's normal."

"Snow on a mountain top is normal. Magic creating weather on a mountain top _isn't_ normal. Then again, we're talking about Spira. The more we find about this place, the less normal it becomes."

"Rain, storm, snow ..." Yuna pulled away from his blanketed embrace and leaned on the balcony to ponder the drastic differences. "There's no logic to it. No flow or pattern. Unless, … rain, thunder, snow … Water, lightning, ice ..." She turned to face him with surprise. "I think it's following a list of magical elements."

"Then, there you go. It's magical logic." He smiled, supportive of her theory. "Which often isn't logical at all."

"But if it's going through magical elements, … fire, earth, and either spirit or darkness are next. Fire probably means warm, sunny days, but … I can't think of any good weather to go with earth. For that matter, I can't think of any bad weather, either. And the other two worry me. If the spell was cast using white elements, then spirit might mean … fog or clear. But if the spell was cast using black elements, … what kind of weather would darkness bring?" Troubled, Yuna looked down at the waterfall once more. "I should talk to Lulu. She might know more about it."

"Well, Lulu's not here. And you won't let me go back to Besaid. So, I say we go back to bed and don't worry about it." He tried to snuggle close again.

Yuna smiled as she turned to wrap her arms around his waist beneath the blanket – which made him wince with pain and suck air through his teeth at how cold her hands had become. "We can't go back to bed. Rikku will be bringing food soon." Footsteps could be heard approaching from outside. Kogoro stood and barked, wagging his tail at the doorway. "In fact, that's probably her right now."

"Probably," he agreed with a flat sigh. "She always does have bad timing."

Rikku didn't come through the door, though. Koji did.

))((

Koji offered a small smile in greeting as the couple in the solarium acknowledged his arrival. He noted the fact that Tidus was wearing a blanket rather than his garment grid and scanned the room to determine where it was because he probably hadn't slept with the magical device on him. Yuna's was nowhere to be seen, but Tidus's was on the floor near his bedding. Kogoro came to sniff him in a friendly manner, but then sniffed his tracks out into the snow. Koji hesitated, but then continued toward the solarium. "Is your dog going to be okay in the ice and snow out there? Maybe you should call him back in."

Yuna smiled and waved off his concern. "He'll be fine. Kogoro's been through a lot worse than a little ice and snow. If anything happens to him, he'll just fade back into the plane of magic until he's summoned again, … like an aeon."

They could all hear Kogoro barking outside as Koji took note of the little dragon aeon that had taken over Tidus's bedroll. Rolling onto her stomach, she opened her mouth in a big, wide yawn that exposed all of her sharp teeth. Then she sneezed, snorted, and licked her lips trying to become more alert. "Aeons can't come back on their own without being summoned?" Koji asked.

"Not that I know of. I can't really say for sure, but none of the aeons I've ever worked with could materialize without a summoner opening a portal between worlds for them." Yuna paused and looked behind him. "Is Rikku playing with Kogoro, or something? They probably shouldn't be so noisy out there. With all this snow, it might cause an avalanche."

"Actually, Rikku didn't come. Not this time," Koji apologized.

Yuna frowned and placed her hands on her hips in insult. "Well, that's just fine. She was supposed to bring our breakfast. Something warm to eat would taste really good about now."

Tidus adjusted his blanket. "Knowing Rikku, she probably already ate it on the way here."

Yuna was amused. "Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?"

"Hey," he frowned, but then drew back in pious self-defense. "It takes a lot of energy to keep these pyreflies fueled. It's their appetite that's out of control, not mine."

Koji scratched behind an ear and spoke low to Tidus. "I need to talk to you for a minute." Then, he crossed to the other side of the solarium and waited for him to follow.

))((

Yuna's brows rose at the private nature of Koji's request, but her com-sphere could be heard beeping. Turning her back on him and Tidus, she returned to her belongings and found the discarded communications device. "Yuna here." She smiled at the lazy dragon on Tidus's bedding and gave her a light pat.

"Yuna, this is Baralai. We have a _major_ problem on our hands under Bevelle. I need you to summon Arantisu and get the key to the colony ship's hidden bridge." He sighed as if it was killing him to admit this. "We're going to have to evacuate Spira."

The summoner's lips parted in shock with a misty huff. She couldn't believe what she just heard. Evacuate Spira? Why? How?

Kogoro, she just realized, had stopped barking. And for some reason, the dog's silence added a new layer of chill to the air.

"Baralai, … what's happening?" she asked when she found her voice once more, though she was afraid to hear his answer.

))((

Koji stood with his back to Yuna, facing Tidus in the interior of the tower ruins. He wore a troubled expression and glanced anxiously toward the entrance. "I just wanted to say that ... I enjoyed meeting you, Tidus. You're so much like Shuyin, that you'll always be like a brother to me. In fact you're kind of like Shuyin's better half, … in a weird way. I want you to know that because it's the honest truth."

Tidus didn't know what to think of the confession. "Okaaaay. Thanks, but …"

"And I want you to know ... I'm really sorry about this." He threw his arms around Tidus in a big, brotherly, bear hug. "I don't really want to do this anymore, but I don't know how to stop it."

Trapped under the blanket and within the hug, Tidus only became more confused. "Stop what?"

Koji drew an unsteady breath, then summoned magic from the Thorn Mauler tattoo on his arm. Green sparks flared around him and long, thin spikes struck out from his all over his torso, piercing Tidus's blanket, arms, chest, and gut straight through to his back.

Tidus grunted with surprise at the pain and looked to Koji in disbelief as he was released from the hug.

The thorn tackle had inflicted multiple mortal wounds and injected a magical venom deep into his blood stream. Koji hoped for a minute that the venom wouldn't work on Tidus's illusionary body, but the spells that bound his spirit as a human were so compact, they had the same effect as they would on any real person. The poison would paralyze him and then eat him from the inside out.

"_Why_?" Tidus whispered with an expression full hurt and fear.

Koji mirrored that expression as he supported his friend's shoulders and eased him to the floor. "I'm so sorry," he repeated, on the verge of tears. "I didn't think it would be like this, but now I don't know what to do."

As he was released, Tidus clutched at Koji's arm to keep him close for an explanation, but his fingers were already too weak to maintain a good grasp on his sleeve.

Before Koji could say anything more, something slammed into him from behind. It wasn't easy to roll away from the attack with all those thorns on his torso and arms, but when he did, Koji saw it was the baby dragon that bowled him over. Then, she sank her teeth into his leg. Crying out at the unexpected bite, he drew his sword and stabbed into the aeon's shoulder forcing her to let go.

))((

Yuna hadn't been aware of what was going on behind her until she heard Koji's cry followed by the dragon's snarling skirmish and sharp yelp. So when she turned around to see what the ruckus was, she was mortified to find the aeon attacking one of their friends. "'Tisu! What are you doing? Stop! Stop it right now!" she scolded and ran to drag the baby dragon away from him. "Arantisu! Don't make me banish you!" The aeon might have been only a baby, but it was still the size of a very large dog. And restraining it was a bit like trying to wrestle a chimera to the ground.

When the aeon finally hunched into an obedient, but still-threatening, seated position, Yuna noticed the blood on the aeon's shoulder and Koji's leg, ... and the spikes that covered his body. They were the same spikes he'd used to break free from the giant squid. It looked like Koji had conjured the thorn magic as a last resort to get the dragon off of himself, but then she saw her boyfriend on his hands and knees, coughing up blood. His blanket had multiple stab wound stains all over the front and back. "Tidus!" She ran to his side.

Before she could reach him, someone snagged her arm and forced her hands behind her back. "Not so fast, High Summoner. We want none of that healing magic going on around here. This time, he's going to stay down."

Yuna felt as if her heart had jumped into her throat, and she was about to choke on it. She looked to Koji for help, but he grimaced in pain as he tried to stand on his injured leg. Then, he did nothing, except offer an expression of apology and shame. Looking at the spikes covering his body, she realized where Tidus's stab wounds came from. "Koji, what did you do to him?" she asked as tears began to fill her eyes. "_Why?_"

"I thought I wanted the strawberry candy," he cryptically confessed, but then shook his head at a loss to explain further.

"Let go of me!" Yuna struggled to pull free from Meimo.

Arantisu disobeyed her summoner's command and launched herself toward Meimo, but he quickly cast an ice spell toward the beast. The ice spear sliced through the dragon's haunch, knocking her back against the stone wall near the solarium.

"Kogoro!" Yuna cried in desperation.

"Kogoro can't hear you, my dear." Meimo grabbed the magical grid from her pocket and pitched it across the room. "He's napping in the plane of magic with little doggy dreams." The rogue summoner dragged Yuna with him toward the injured dragon. "Now that we have Yevon's documents on aeon creation, there's only one thing left to collect." Grabbing the pendant worn around Arantisu's throat, he snapped it away from the chain that held it. Then, he waved his staff to summon a portal into the plane of magic and banished the aeon from being of any further help to anyone. He started to drag Yuna back toward the door with him, but paused at Tidus's head and hands. "Seymour sends his regards, by the way," he added with a smirk and watched as anger etched itself into the young man's face.

"_Seymour?_" Yuna couldn't stand to see the ship's key in Meimo's hands, but the thought of Seymour getting his hands on those aeon documents frightened her beyond any threat Meimo could dream up. "NO!" She pulled, punched, and scratched trying to snatch the pendant back. "Tidus!"

Tidus's face twisted into a bitter scowl, and his fingers slowly dug into the tiles of the floor, but he was helpless to do anything and struggled just to stay up on his hands and knees.

"Koji!" Yuna begged. "Please help us!"

Koji swallowed hard and looked to Meimo. "You're not actually _taking_ her, are you?"

"Of course I am. You heard him. He wants his bride back." Meimo jerked Yuna around into a more firmly locked hostage position beneath his arm.

Koji frowned with disgust and anger. "That wasn't part of the -"

"I'll be back for you once she has been safely delivered," Meimo growled with a threatening swipe of his summoner's staff. "Make _sure_ your '_friend_' doesn't walk away!"

"Tidus!" Yuna screamed, but then she and Meimo both vanished.

))((

"Meimo!" Koji bellowed at the sparks of magic evaporating in the wake of the teleportation spell. "Yuna wasn't part of the plan!"

Tidus felt sick and light-headed as his strength drained away. He coughed hoarsely as the poison coursed through his veins, but he could barely keep his balance on all fours, much less swing a sword. Once again he was useless to save Yuna from Meimo, and he hated himself for it. When he tried to place a hand over the most painful stomach wound, the other hand supporting himself slipped in a puddle of his own blood. Falling onto his shoulder, he gave up trying to stand and rolled onto his back. "_Seymour?_" he rasped with labored breathing.

Koji knelt at his side. "I had no idea he was going to take Yuna. I swear it."

"You know Seymour?"

"Seymour told me that Shuyin had been cloned, and that the clone had killed him and Jecht, just like Shuyin killed me. I knew how much Shuyin hated his dad, but I couldn't believe he was capable of killing him until you confirmed it. I know Seymour killed his father, too, but he said it was because his he abandoned him and his mother to die in some deserted ruins. His father was too proud to admit he'd had an affair with a human or take responsibility for her and her son. It sounded like the old man had it coming. Jecht had his harsh moments, especially when he was drunk, but at least he wasn't the type to abandon his family to a slow death in buried ruins.

"Seymour also said that Yuna betrayed him for Shuyin's clone, … just like what Lenne and Shuyin did to me. Only the two of you killed him, and then she sent him - trapped him in the Farplane. When Shuyin left me to die, I was so angry I vowed I'd never let anyone trap me in the Farplane until I could bring him down with me. I hated him," Koji honestly admitted. "Because I tried so hard during my life to gain some kind of recognition, but he stole everything I worked my ass off for, then left me to die in a 'tragic accident'. He got sympathy for his loss. I got a cold, dark ocean. He gained fame and fortune. I gained an eternal haunt. He became Lenne's love, while I became … forgotten." He shook his head in cynical amusement. "Shuyin's the one everyone loved. He's the one that always got the attention and rewards. He could turn on that charming personality and turn people into puppets. They'd do anything for him. Imagine my lack of surprise when Meimo told me Shuyin's spirit _actually did_ gain magical powers of possession, … and he used it to kill people. I thought I was doing the world a favor by agreeing to help get rid of his clone and put the final pieces to rest," Koji admitted with a scowl, but then the scowl softened. "But I didn't expect you to welcome me back like this. I didn't expect your friends to be forgiving. I don't know what I expected, but … it wasn't supposed to be like this. And Yuna … She wasn't supposed to be part of this at all."

"Then help us."

"I can't! Meimo's threatening to send me, and if I end up in the Farplane, I can't do anything to stop him. And now that Seymour has Yuna ..." He turned his head away.

Tidus used every ounce of strength he had to reach for Koji's collar and grasp it in his bloody hand. "Don't listen to Seymour. In the end, he will destroy everyone and everything he touches, … including you."

Koji sniffled and shook his head as he wiped the back of his hand across a tear that had escaped down his cheek. "He's promised me life – a second chance to make things right. He's going to use those aeon creation spells to resurrect me just like Yevon resurrected Shuyin in you."

Tidus closed his eyes and recalled Yuna's warning. "I'm not real, Koji. It won't be the same for you."

"They'll be using the same spells."

"But it _won't_ be the same for you. You will never be like Shuyin."

"I don't _want_ to be like Shuyin!" Koji pushed his hand away. "Don't you get it? Shuyin didn't deserve a second chance at life because he wasted and abused his first one. And I deserve better than his leftovers! I don't want your pity. All I want is a second chance to make things right."

Tidus sighed and let his hand and head fall back against the floor, weakened from his continued attempt to focus and speak. "Shuyin never got a second chance to make things right. Coming back as me couldn't save Lenne." He was so cold now that his lips and teeth were beginning to chatter. "And Yuna doesn't deserve your grudge."

"No, … she doesn't," Koji quietly agreed. "But as long as I am nothing but an unsent spirit, I can't fight a living summoner and the spirit of a powerful maester. As long as I am unsent, there is nothing I can do to save her." He rose and turned toward the door.

"What about me? You can't just walk away and let me die."

Koji stopped, torn. "Why not? It's what you did to me." He looked over his shoulder.

Tidus coughed up more blood as he fought to remain conscious. "I pulled you out of the water. I asked Yuna to heal you after finding you on the beach. I am no longer Shuyin. You can't get revenge on him by killing me."

"I realize that now," Koji sadly admitted. "But if I try to save you, Meimo might send me. And then I won't be able to help anyone else. During the war, Shuyin tried to save the girl I loved. He failed, … but at least he tried. I can respect that. If I get my second life, I will return the favor by doing everything I can to save Yuna from Seymour."

Tidus was too weak to even dry the tears from his eyes. "Promise."

Koji gave a tearful nod at the demand. "I promise. Sleep well, my brother. Your spirit has endured two lifetimes over a thousand years. Your final peace awaits you." Then, he continued toward the door and tried not to look back.

Holding onto Koji's promise, Tidus closed his eyes and allowed himself to sink into the darkness surrounding him.

))((

"Gullwings to the bridge!"

Rikku's covers were so soft and warm compared to the typhoon she had been through the night before that she ignored Cid's voice over the intercom, mumbled something unintelligible, and rolled over to go back to sleep.

The intercom clicked on again. "Rikku! Chuck it in gear and haul it up here pronto! We've got a very important mission!"

Rikku groaned at being singled out, but slowly sat up and swung her feet to the colorful rug on the floor at her bedside. She dawdled her toes in the brightly colored patterns for a moment, then noticed Paine was already awake and staring out the window, though still in her camisole and pajama shorts. "How can he take on a sphere hunting mission at a time like this? Pop must be going senile on us," she complained with a pout as she stood, adjusted her baggy nightshirt, and joined Paine at the window.

"It's probably important or Cid wouldn't have taken the job," Paine absently answered.

"_Snow?_ Oh my gosh! It's snowing on the beach!" Rikku rubbed her eyes to be sure she was seeing right.

"I'd say that's important enough." Paine turned and headed down the stairs to answer Cid's orders.

Rikku grabbed her pink, fuzzy slippers from under her bed and hopped on one foot as she slipped them on. Then, she hurried down the stairs after her. On the bridge, they went straight to the com-sphere screen where a very tired-looking Baralai and Gippal waited for them. "Aiiiyaiii!" Rikku quickly jumped behind Brother. "Why didn't you tell us the com-sphere was on, so we could get ready first!" she angrily fussed.

"Like that frumpy nightshirt is going to reveal something thief sphere does not?" Her brother side-stepped, so she couldn't hide behind him.

Frowning at his move, Rikku jumped behind her brother again and smacked the back of his shaved head. "Oi! Being put on display with sheet-face and bed-hair is unforgivable!"

"Can it, you two!" Cid warned with a serious mien. Now was not the time or place for sibling rivalry.

Baralai got straight to the point. "I've lost contact with Yuna. I was updating her on the situation under Bevelle when she suddenly started shouting, and it sounded like there was a fight. Transmission at that point became garbled. But I heard other voices, and she cried out for Arantisu, Tidus, and Koji. I'm afraid something's happened. Someone should check on them and tell her we need the key to the colony ship's bridge as soon as possible. I don't know if she heard me when I said it, or not."

"Was anyone hurt?" Rikku asked.

"She's not answering, so I have no way of knowing."

Paine quirked a brow of wary suspicion. "Why would you need the key?"

Baralai hesitated and glanced to Gippal with regret before answering. "We can't find the captain's spirit anywhere, and the Farplane is dying, so we have to assume the worst."

"The Farplane is dying?" The Gullwings crew became alarmed.

"What do you mean the Farplane is dying?"

Baralai attempted to calm them with a gesture and spoke above the multiple questions flying toward him all at once. "Gippal and I have spent all night going over our options, and we've decided it's time to take manual control of the ship and evacuate Spira."

"_Evacuate?_" Cid became red-faced. "What do you mean evacuate? This ain't no pleasure cruise, boy. Where the heck-fire are we supposed to go? You got ejector seats stashed somewhere that can shoot us toward a new planet?"

"Find Yuna," Baralai firmly persisted, not wanting to waste time on details yet. "Make sure she's alright, and have her summon Arantisu. Please, get that pendant key to us as soon as possible."

Rikku moved around her brother toward the screen - frumpy shirt, bed-hair, and all. "You mean, … we have to leave Spira? You can't be serious."

"I wish I was joking," the praetor answered apologetically. "But if the Farplane dies, Spira will no longer be able to support life. We have to get off the ship, or we'll die, too."

"Are you sure it's not just a malfunction of some kind?" Cid asked, trying to find hope to hang onto.

"We're still working that end," Gippal answered, "but if we don't find Captain Spira, malfunctions will be the new norm. We don't know how to reboot the Farplane without her."

Paine scratched her head, fluffing her bangs into a messy fray while she considered this new development. "What was Koji doing with Yuna on Gagazet? We thought he'd been kidnapped by Meimo or caught in the storm."

"Maybe he went to warn her about Meimo," Rikku suggested.

"Or maybe he dropped by to ask her to hurry up his transformation?" Baralai dryly suggested, still annoyed that Yuna had kept confirmation of Koji's unsent nature from him.

"Or maybe he was leading Meimo to her," Gippal inserted, putting an uneasy twist on the situation.

The bridge grew silent as they considered the possible betrayal. Rikku emphatically shook her head. "Koji wouldn't try to hurt Yunie. She tried to help him."

Baralai frowned. "Koji might not have anything against Yuna, but Meimo does. And so does Seymour. They could have taken her and Tidus. Did you ever find the missing magic documents?"

"No," she admitted.

"Then Koji is an unsent spirit holding magic documents on how to come back to life, and he was probably looking for a summoner when he disappeared with those spells. Yuna, Meimo, and Seymour are all summoners. I sense a multi-layered conspiracy in the works here."

Everyone looked at each other with grave concern. Baralai's theory sounded more credible than anyone wanted to admit.

"Wait a minute," Paine tried to think back. "Remember when we were talking about the spirit being murdered in the woods? Koji said that Shuyin was too powerful for anyone to summon except Tidus. How would he know anything about what it takes to summon Shuyin, ... unless he had been talking to Meimo?"

Rikku gasped in astonishment at the unexpected inconsistency. "Oh my gosh! And I let him walk right out of here with those documents without even thinking! How could I be so blind?" The small thief pressed her palms to her temples and shook her head in disbelief at her naivety.

Gippal sympathized with her guilt, but they were in crisis, and now was not the time for self-doubts or blame. "Sometimes even people with _two_ good eyes can't see so well, Rikku. We need to get those documents back, but I think it's more important that we find Yuna and the key to Spira's bridge – especially now that it seems Meimo and Seymour might be working together on something," he restated the mission to stress the urgency.

"How bad is the Farplane?" Paine asked. "Is that what's causing all the strange weather?"

"It's bad," Gippal admitted. "Our atmosphere is produced by a combination of magic and machina. Spira maintained everything on this planet with magic - everything from the ocean currents to the weather. We don't know where or how a lot of the magic works, but with her gone, it's going to fizzle. And we're going to hit some major negative energy surges before it burns out and leaves us with nothing."

"Don't even worry about Meimo and the documents anymore," Baralai urged the Gullwings. "Just do whatever you can to find Yuna and that key. If there's any workable solution for this mess, it's probably on the hidden bridge of the colony ship's interior."

))((

In his office at the temple in Bevelle, Baralai clicked off communications with the Celsius and called the Youth League's headquarters in Kilika. When there was no response at the office, he contacted the meyven at home.

A sleepy Nooj answered his com-sphere from a bedside table. "What do you want?" he grumbled, not happy about being awakened by the praetor of New Yevon.

"Hate to bother you so early, but we're having major issues here."

"You always have major issues," Nooj dryly quipped.

Baralai smirked at the familiar brother-like rivalry that echoed Gippal's comments from the night before. He wanted to say something snarky back, but now was not the time or place. "I've had to send too many search parties throughout Spira for Meimo. Now I'm thin where I think we might need it most. Does the Youth League have any bodies to spare for the Farplane to guard the Heart of the ship?"

Still bedraggled, Nooj lifted the com-sphere and sat up with concern. "I'll see what I can do. Any sign of Koji or the magic documents yet?"

"None - not even in Zanarkand. But if you find Koji before we do, consider him armed and dangerous. I don't think he was kidnapped for the documents." Baralai frowned deeply. "I think he stole them."


	21. Chapter 21: Rebirth

Chapter 21: Rebirth

Instead of wasting time by teleporting and climbing to the tower from the bottom of the Mount Gagazet, Paine and Rikku were flown by the Celsius to the ledge of the sky city ruins. There, they jumped down onto a precarious slope and hurried over the slippery ice and snow to the entrance. Yuna was nowhere in sight, but Tidus was unconscious on the floor wrapped in a bloody blanket.

Rikku gasped and ran to his side the second she spotted him. "Oh my gosh! _Tidus_!" Kneeling beside him, she carefully turned his shoulders and pulled the top edge of the blanket away to partially expose the multiple stab wounds. The number of wounds and the amount of blood on the blanket made her hands begin to tremble. "Tidus?"

Paine knelt by his other side to feel for a pulse. "He's still with us, but barely." She dug into the small supply pack at her hip and quickly searched through their items to find some phoenix down. The fiery red liquid trickled down his throat and revived him enough to be aware of the need to swallow. His eyes opened as the potion took effect, but he was groggy and groaned in discomfort as he rolled back onto his stomach. Paine took note of the stab wounds rapidly healing and was thankful they had the foresight to keep at least one bottle of the rare and powerful potion on hand at all times. "How do you feel?"

"Sick." He coughed, trying to clear his lungs and raised himself to his hands and knees, though his hand caught the edge of his loose blanket, causing it to slip from his back down to his hips.

"Oh, my _gosh_, Tidus," Rikku repeated, but with a different tone while flushing in embarrassment. She quickly grasped the blanket edge and threw it back over him. "We don't need to see the moon at noon, you know."

He clutched his blanket about his waist as he tried to stand. "I need my garment grid. It should be near my bag." He was still too weak to be standing on his own, so he had to lean against her to avoid falling.

Paine moved to what was left of his makeshift bedding and sifted through his personal items until she found it. "Heads up." She tossed the grid toward him.

Tidus reached for it with his free hand, but his reflexes weren't snappy enough yet. It slipped through his fingers, hit the floor, and spun around on itself. He started to pick it up, but Rikku held up a hand to stop him.

"Allow me." She retrieved the grid. "You don't need to be bending over in that … condition."

Tidus frowned and snatched his grid back. "Stop looking at my butt."

"Then stop showing it to me," she snapped in her defense, hands on hips.

Paine found Yuna's grid, as well, which meant the summoner had no extra armor or weapons on her. "Where is she?" she asked with growing unease. "_Where's_ Yuna?"

Tidus was reluctant to answer. "Meimo took her." Switching into his guardian sphere, he dropped the blood-stained blanket.

"_What?_" the girls turned in unison. Paine pocketed Yuna's garment grid, then straightened and waited for the dread explanation.

Picking up the corner of the blanket and dragging it behind him, Tidus made his way to his bag and began packing his things. "Meimo took Yuna and Arantisu's pendant."

"Oh no! You let him take the key to the bridge, too?" Rikku blurted.

"Hey! I didn't_ let_ him do anything!" Tidus angrily countered. "He stuck me like a poison pin-cushion, and then Meimo banished Tisu and took the amulet and Yuna to Seymour. You think I wouldn't have done everything I could to stop them?" He continued packing.

Rikku looked to Paine with worry. "You were right. Seymour's behind this somehow."

"Them? _Who_ stabbed you, Tidus?" Paine asked, point blank.

Staring at Yuna's belongings, he paused and sat back on his heels with discomfort, ashamed to admit it. "Koji."

Rikku looked wounded and shook her head in disbelief at their betrayal.

Paine folded her arms and restrained her growing anger. "Koji was here? You're sure he's the one who attacked you?"

Tidus gave a silent nod, then picked up the long red ribbon Yuna had unwrapped from her cut hand. Clutching it in his fist, he thought about putting it back on his sword, but changed his mind and wrapped it around his wrist to keep it within his view. Then, he set about packing Yuna's belongings, too.

"I knew it," Paine grumbled with disgust and turned away to pace. "Gippal's machina picked up Meimo talking to Seymour in the Via Infinito, then Koji disappeared with the documents when he was supposed to be searching for Meimo in Besaid," she informed him. "It was a scam all along! I can't believe we fell for it."

"I should have known better." Tidus found Spira's journal among Yuna's belongings and lifted it from the floor to carefully leaf through a couple of pages. "Koji would have found someone else to cast the aeon magic after Yuna said she didn't want to do it. I shouldn't have asked her to help him. I'm her guardian, but that's twice now I've failed to protect her from Meimo. And if Seymour ..." He paused and closed the book. A guilt-ridden, angry expression crossed his face, then he stood and hefted Yuna's backpack on his shoulder alongside his own. "I'll get her back. I swear I will," he promised. "I'll never be able to forgive myself if I don't."

"Don't say that!" Rikku fussed, but she was more sad and afraid than angry. "We don't want you to end up like another guardian who never forgave himself when his girlfriend was taken captive."

"Now I understand why Shuyin wanted to use Vegnagun against anyone who tried to stop him from saving Lenne."

Rikku shook her head at the horrible sentiment and tried to counter it by wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. "Don't blame yourself. We all wanted to trust him. But what's important now is that we find Yunie."

As the small thief pulled away from the hug, Tidus offered the book to Paine. "Well, at least we still have Spira's journal. We might be able to find something useful in it. Unfortunately, Seymour probably already has the rest. And you can guess what's going to happen if he gets his hands on those aeon creation spells. Yuna said Spira confirmed that no good can come of resurrecting a soul that's been tainted by death. Apparently, I'm some kind of exception because I'm not really … real." He clearly loathed having to admit that once again, but something about the way he said it this time seemed … torn. "Most dead souls come back as demons."

Alarmed by that news, but curious about what else he wasn't saying, Paine accepted the book. "We can't let Seymour come back." She started to say more, when a sudden snapping noise followed by a loud _whoosh_ startled all of them. Looking toward the solarium, she saw that the sphere of magic controlling the atmosphere was engulfed in flames.

"Something tells me that doesn't mean we're in for a sunny day," Tidus muttered. "We'd better get out of here."

Rikku touched the com-link in her ear to contact the Celsius. "The ruins are on fire! Get us out of here!"

Tidus conjured haste spells over all three of them. "Watch your footing!" he warned, knowing the cost of speed was often carelessness. Then, he braced himself for the heat and raced past the flames.

Paine and Rikku followed him over the places where the snow and ice were quickly melting. As the Celsius lowered its ramp to the ledge of the ruins, all three of them jumped on board the airship and ran to the lift.

When they entered the bridge, Brother met them at the door. He seemed surprised at Tidus's presence, considering he was supposed to be hiding still, but he seemed even more surprised to see the dark circles under the blitzball player's eyes and the blood stains on his clothing, arms, and face. And one person was still missing. "Where's Yuna?"

"She's with Meimo," Tidus answered, annoyed at having to admit his failure again.

"_What!_ How could you let him take Yuna!" Brother confronted Paine for yelling at him last night. "I told you Yuna was in danger! We should have gone to her!"

"That's not why you wanted to go see Yuna last night, and you know it." Paine frowned at him as she went straight to the com-sphere screen and pressed the connection to the office of New Yevon's praetor in Bevelle. As soon as Baralai's face appeared on-screen, she skipped polite mannerisms and got straight to the point. "We found Tidus, but Yuna's missing. Koji and Meimo took her and Arantisu's key to Seymour."

"_What?_" Brother began pacing as if he was going to have a heart attack. "Koji was _your_ friend that did this to Yuna!" he accused, pointing a finger at Tidus. "You asked Yuna to help unsent, and now Yuna is in danger of becoming unsent, too," he cried.

Baralai gave Tidus a scolding frown, as well. "Then I guess I'm a little late in saying I have a bone to pick with you and Yuna about helping an unsent locate aeon creation magic," he sardonically added.

"None of us knew he was going to do this, okay?" Tidus fired back.

Baralai looked as if he wanted to say, "I told you so", but that wouldn't accomplish anything. Instead, he sighed in great disappointment, set his elbows on his desk, and rubbed his hands over his face in attempt to stay alert and think. "No, … I suppose not."

Paine glanced toward Tidus, noting by his expression that he was resisting the urge to deck Brother and smash the com-link monitor right then and there. "Do you have any idea where they could have gone?"

Tidus dropped the backpacks he carried and stepped up to the com-sphere monitor to answer Paine and confront Baralai. "Since Meimo took Arantisu's pendant, my bet is that they're headed to the Farplane's Heart to get back into the ship's bridge."

Baralai nodded in agreement. "I'm already increasing security down there. If Meimo tries to approach the bridge, we'll be waiting for him, but we desperately need that key for our evacuation plans. If you get any new information, keep in touch."

Tidus blinked at the blank screen, then turned to the others with a questioning expression. "Evacuation plans? What evacuation plans?"

Paine straightened and leaned against the com-sphere console to face him with a heavy sigh. "Captain Spira is gone. The ship is dying. Baralai and Gippal have decided it's in everyone's best interest to stop the ride and get off while we still can –_ if _we can," she solemnly added.

Cid approached Tidus with concern. "Did you say Seymour has Yuna?"

Tidus was stunned by news of an evacuation, but right now he was too concerned for Yuna to panic about the ship dying. "Koji attacked me, and Meimo teleported away with her and the key. But before he left, he said Seymour sent his regards. Seymour's got to be the mastermind behind whatever they're doing."

"And where was Yuna's com-link while all this was happening?" Brother scowled at him and tapping his fingers accusingly on his arm.

Tidus moved to stand nose-to-nose with him before answering. "She removed it so she could sleep. And before that was none of your business." He was in no mood for this right now.

Rikku nervously chewed a lip, but caught on to Brother's idea. "But if her com-link was on when Meimo took her, then we could use it to locate her, right?" She turned to Buddy, who was standing by Cid, but keeping his thoughts to himself.

Paine turned to Tidus with a ray of hope. "Did you see it among her things when you packed her bag?"

"No." Tidus shook his head. "She was using it right before Meimo showed up. Maybe she still has it."

Buddy sat down at his navigation screen and opened the com-sphere map to study the signals being emitted by the various spheres they had set down throughout Spira. After a long moment of everyone waiting to see and hear results, he sighed and slumped in his chair. "Not a trace."

Tidus ran his hands through his hair and started to pace now that Brother had stopped. Then, without a word to anyone else, he snatched up his and Yuna's bags again and stormed out of the bridge.

Paine moved to the window and stared up at the sky. The clouds rippled by so quickly that they looked as if someone had rolled a memory sphere fast forward. The sky was blue and sunny again. That would be good for melting the unexpected snow, but a sense of dread came over her when she wondered what the dying planet's forecast would bring next.

))((

Meimo pulled the com-link from Yuna's ear and cast it into the water near the steps of the submerged ruins as soon as he teleported her to their new location - Baaj. Yuna immediately recognized where she was and broke away, running into the water, but Meimo caught up to her, dragged the struggling young woman into the Chamber of the Fayth, and threw her against the nearest wall. Exasperated with the surprising difficulty of trying to hold onto her, the summoner backed up and cast a petrification spell to keep her still. Then, with a huff, he straightened his robes and teleported back to get Koji, who was waiting for him at the location where they first teleported to the mountain.

Within a few minutes, Meimo returned to the Baaj chamber with Koji and released his grip on the young man's arm. As he paused to dust himself off, Seymour came from the darkness.

Floating in a stream of magic, he crossed the floor to stand before the petrified statue. "Lady Yuna," Seymour spoke gently. "How many years has it been since we last saw each other - three, four? It's difficult to track mortal time while trapped in a magical dimension. Nevertheless, this meeting is not unpleasant."

Meimo started toward the magic items, but Seymour intercepted him.

"I would like for Yuna to see this. Please undo the spell on her."

Meimo frowned at the idea. "Are you sure that's wise? She may run."

"Then prevent her from running." Seymour would not accept any other answer.

Giving Seymour a sigh of disgust at how simple he made that sound, Meimo slipped his belt from his robes and passed it Koji. "You're going to wish you'd left her as a statue, believe me."

Koji stared at the offered belt as if it were a snake.

"And just so you know," Meimo added for Seymour, "the only reason I nabbed her was to prevent her from healing Tidus. I didn't bring her here for _you_, … although I did enjoy the look on his face when I gave him your regards." Impatient that Koji was not accepting the belt, he shoved it into the young man's hands. "Take it! And when I release her, you will bind her to prevent her escape, or it'll be the Farplane for you."

Koji reluctantly took the belt and waited for Meimo to cast an Esuna spell to clear up Yuna's petrification. It was immediately followed by a silence spell to keep her from casting magic. As Yuna fell forward, half-faint from being locked in the same standing position, Koji caught her in his arms and eased her to the ground in a seated position, but then used the cloth belt to bind her hands behind her back. Even if she ran now, she wouldn't be able to swim away from the ruins, or fight the fiends that surrounded it. When he finished knotting the belt, he stepped aside, and Seymour crouched to one knee before her.

Meimo watched the ghostly summoner study her, but shook his head, still thinking the removal of the petrification spell was a mistake. "You don't need her for anything, and if she betrayed you once, she'll do it again. I don't understand why you would you want her back."

"She was the only one worthy – the only one I _could_ have loved." Seymour cupped her chin in his ethereal hand, unable to actually touch her, but more intent on coaxing her to look up at him. "There was a time when I would have gladly given her the world. It would be a shame to destroy her before letting her see the power we could have shared, had she not betrayed me, ... multiple times." Seymour leaned forward to kiss her as he had on their wedding day.

Though the spirit's kiss made no contact, Yuna turned her head away and refused to look at him. She had been willing to play at marriage once in order to send him, but she made it clear she was no longer willing to abide that game now.

Seymour chuckled at her rejection. "Interesting. You're not as naive as you used to be, yet you remain as beautiful as ever." He lifted a ghostly hand to touch her cheek. "Of course, you are still a little naive, or you would not have so easily trusted our spy."

Yuna's angry gaze settled on Koji as a stray tear rolled down her cheek, but the silence spell kept her from speaking, as well.

"She was suspicious of my being unsent all along," Koji answered in Yuna's defense. "It was Tidus who convinced her to give me a chance."

Seymour smiled. "Ah, yes, the continued liaison with Tidus ... How is he?"

"Dead by now," Meimo flatly, but triumphantly answered.

Yuna released a gasp that sounded like a whimper of denial, then hung her head, refusing to face any of her captors.

The spirit of the former maester straightened. "Pity. I would have liked for him to see this, too. Koji, take Yuna to that far wall over there and guard her. Miemo, I have learned the spell, so I am ready for the casting," he announced.

"Excellent." Meimo smiled as he strode toward the magic items, this time with Seymour in tow.

))((

Koji helped their hostage to her feet and led her toward the far wall as instructed, but then he glanced over his shoulder at the two summoners arming themselves with dangerous magic. "Yuna, I know you're mad at me," he whispered, keeping his voice low. "You have every reason to be. But I want you to know that I didn't _want_ to go back to hurt Tidus. I wanted to walk away from this whole thing, but Meimo threatened to send me if I didn't do as he said. I didn't know he was going to bring you here. I thought all he wanted was the aeon's key. I _swear_ it."

Against the wall, Yuna met him with a glowering expression of blame in spite of that confession.

Koji continued to whisper, while keeping an eye on the two powerful summoners on the opposite side of the chamber. "You probably won't believe me, but … I saw my own memories last night in the Zanarkand temple. Somehow the pyreflies captured every detail of my last memory with Shuyin, and I know I had that same look on my face when I thought Shuyin betrayed me with Lenne, … and when he left me to die."

Yuna's scowl deepened and she tried to pull away from him.

Koji pushed her shoulder against the wall and turned his back on the summoners to face Yuna with earnest. "Please, listen to me!" he hissed, then lowered his voice again. "When I first met Meimo, he told me Shuyin had killed a lot of people besides me, including his friend Kyudou. He said Shuyin had died, but that he had been resurrected into a second life by other spirits. Then, he told me the clone had killed Jecht and Seymour, and that he would continue to kill if he wasn't stopped. I didn't want to believe it, but I knew how much Shuyin hated Jecht, and I was convinced he had intentionally left me to die by letting that giant squid kill me. So, if Shuyin was a killer, how could someone like him be picked for a second chance at life? How could he be allowed to continue to kill? When they asked me to help take down the clone - I won't lie – I wanted revenge on Shuyin. But more than that, I honestly thought I was doing the world a favor. Yet the more time I spent with Tidus, the more I realized he wasn't really Shuyin, … and the less I believed what Meimo, Kyudou, and Seymour were saying about them."

Yuna's brows rose in alarm, and her lips shaped a name in mute question. "_Kyudou?_" She shook her head as if that was impossible.

"Tidus explained what he was and why he killed Jecht, so I knew they didn't give me the whole truth about him. But then you guys turned around and backed up their stories about Shuyin trying to kill everyone and destroy the world. What was I supposed to think? Shuyin might have killed after he became an unsent, because he had basically turned into a fiend. But as a living person, he would _never_ have intentionally killed someone. Talking to Tidus made me realize _my_ Shuyin - the Shuyin I once knew - was not a killer. And _that's_ the part of Shu that lives in Tidus." Koji spoke more quickly, afraid he was going to be grabbed by one of the summoners before he could finish. "They promised me a second life if I helped them, but after being around you guys, a second life was all I really wanted. I didn't care about revenge anymore. If you had been willing to bring me back, I would have sided with you guys against them, but I could tell you didn't want to do it. I realized, they're the only ones willing to use those spells, so I gave them the documents because I can't fight them like this!" he urged her to try to understand. "If I don't do as they say, they'll send me to the Farplane. And then you guys will be stuck facing a resurrected Seymour and Kyudou on your own. I want to help, so, I need to go along with them until they bring me back. Once they bring me back, I'll be stronger, and I can get you out of here. Then we'll find a way to bring Tidus back, too. If he was created from the spells in that book once, he can be recreated from them again, right?"

Yuna shook her head in desperation, but being struck with a silence spell, she couldn't argue.

))((

Meimo lifted the magic book, but his expression registered awe and doubt when he read the spell Seymour had chosen. "Good lords! I recognize part of this!" He looked to Seymour with worry. "Maedra died casting this one."

"Only because he cast another, equally powerful spell directly beforehand. Don't be intimidated. We're doing only one spell, … and I can help." Seymour smiled with pride. "I'm half-guado, and this potent magic was crafted for my race, not yours." The ghostly summoner held out his long, pale hand.

Meimo hesitated to accept the gesture. "_Half_-guado, … half-_human_."

Seymour was losing humor in his partner's fear. "Guado _enough_ to perform these rites."

"How do you intend to help? You can't even materialize enough to hold the book."

The ghostly summoner let his hand fall to his side and sighed. "Before Sin was vanquished, I allowed Yevon to possess me. For a short time, I became a part of Sin. Lady Yuna can confirm that fact for you, if necessary. I tried to prevent her and her friends from killing him before I could meld completely, but in that short time I came in contact with Sin's toxin – the toxin Yevon used to possess the Final Aeons before claiming them as the new Sin – probably the same toxin Shuyin used to make you kill your best friend."

Meimo became angry at the memory of Shuyin possessing him and forcing him to kill Kyudou. "If you could possess the living, then why didn't you say so in the first place! We could have just brought you a peasant from the streets!"

"I don't _want_ a peasant's body. I want my _own_." Seymour's brows dipped as he drew dangerously close to the other summoner. "And using your body to cast the resurrection spell is my price for aiding you in your own little vendetta. You cannot cast it without my aid, and you know it. It's too strong for you. But I cannot cast it while trapped in this dimension of death, … divided from reality. You must allow me to possess you. I need a way back into your world. Then, I will have what I need to finish out my plans, and you can be given what you need to finish yours."

Meimo became furious and his voice rose an octave with his outrage. "Do you think I am a half-wit? I won't be made a sacrifice!"

"I'm the one being sacrificed!" Seymour snapped. "It is my own soul put at risk to be reborn! I will not take that risk at the hands of a mere human. Guado ability to channel magic is better. Had Yevon been guado, his use of guado magic might not have backfired and driven him insane with rage. I could have controlled Sin better than any human, had no one interfered with my plans." Seymour cast a side-glance toward Yuna.

Meimo followed his line of vision and saw that Koji had their hostage pinned against the far chamber wall and was speaking feverishly to her in hushed tones. He didn't like the look of it, and neither did Seymour.

"Besides, the spell requires a minimum of two voluntary souls, so it's in my best interest to protect you." The former maester of Yevon offered his hand again and quirked a impatient brow, as he waited for the other, less powerful summoner to accept his terms.

Meimo's hand clenched his summoner's staff in a fist, as he debated whether Seymour could be trusted. But Maester Seymour – as a living high summoner of Yevon - was probably the only one powerful enough to help him and Kyudou with their final plan. Tucking the book under his arm, Meimo gave an obligatory sigh and placed his hand in Seymour's. The half-guado smiled and stepped forward into him - two minds and two souls in one body. Meimo gasped and panicked as the other presence joined him, but he calmed a bit after he flexed his hand a few times and found he was still in control. As the pyreflies faded, however, his vision was involuntarily wrenched toward Koji and Yuna.

"Koji, Yuna can't see through your body." Seymour's voice layered eerily over Meimo's in a cold manner. "And I distinctly remember saying I wanted her to _see _this."

Koji jerked away from Yuna, looking suspiciously anxious, but he held fast to her bound wrists and unsheathed his sword to demonstrate that he was, indeed, guarding her, as ordered.

Satisfied, Seymour opened the book to review the spell once more. Then, using Meimo's body, he moved into the center of the temple's floor where Anima's Fayth had been. It was fitting that such a deed should be done here. "I shall make you proud after all, Mother," he told the faded shadow in her tomb. Then, he began to weave glyphs of magic and light around him in a forbidden dance.

The glyphs hummed with energy and smoked with dark vapors that rose to form black skulls in a circle around him. One of each magical elemental was summoned to form a square within the circle of glyphs. And then three liches were summoned to form a triangle within the square. Their phantom, skeletal forms hovered in the air, waiting to lend their energy to the evocation.

Yuna shrank from the magic and turned her face to the wall. She didn't want to see this. It was a rather gruesome sight, so Koji had no intention of forcing her to witness it.

"Now. Leave me, and say the final command; but do not fear the power that will be channeled through you." Meimo seemed to be speaking to himself, but Seymour's apparition remained bound within the confines of the circle, while the other summoner walked away. Then, the former maester dropped to one knee to touch the ground and draw energy from it - from Spira itself.

Meimo, was uneasy seeing what Seymour had produced through him. But he stepped back and lifted his summoning wand to shout the most important command in necromancy - a name. "_Seymour Guado!_ Come forth!" Power from deep within the heart of the ship rose through him bringing him to his knees, feeling as if it were sucking him down into the Farplane itself. The glyphs rose around Seymour and then spread out to the floor, walls, and ceiling of the temple. Raw elemental energy blasted from all directions within the confines of the warding circle, igniting Seymour's ghostly form with a brilliant, vibrant light. The liches howled with delight as they cast their energy into the swell - dark energy that turned the colors black as the void expanded, rising high above them and exploding in a gust of wind so dark that Meimo felt as if he had suddenly been blinded.

Koji raised his arms to protect himself and Yuna from the flying debris caught up in the whirlwind. But as the magic dispersed, the wind died down.

Meimo crumpled to the floor on his stomach. He was still alive, but only due to the fact that he did not use his own energy to summon the elementals and set the stage for the casting. The walls of the Baaj temple sparkled like black diamonds. Pyreflies dispersed from the robed bundle on the floor, but the fiends remained, hovering quietly in the air, waiting to see their creation.

As Seymour uncurled from his kneeling position on the floor, it was obvious that his body had become physically solid once more. His long, thick robes had torn in places to allow for his taller, more muscular, new frame. The two black draconian tattoos that once decorated his chest and shoulders had disappeared, but his skin was now the same charcoal gray as those markings and mottled all-over with the same draconian black swirls. A whip-like tail the length of his height unfurled behind him, and his ice-blue eyes now glowed with unnatural power, from deep within a guado-draconian skull. His coarse blue hair had formed a scraggly mane at the base of his neck and head, but he now had three black horns adorned with blue and gold rings. He bore Anima's reversed fangs, and the veins on his face had transformed into bleeding wounds that would constantly weep for her memory. His body dripped with a steaming ooze, as if he had indeed just gone through a birthing process of some kind - the birth of a demon. Seymour held out his hand to see his own sharp talons, then raised his head to look directly at his assistant.

Meimo, breathless and weak, pushed himself back onto his feet, but he remained cautious as he gazed at the new creation. "H-how do you feel, my lord?"

"I live," Seymour announced with a voice from beyond the grave.

"You are an aeon."

"I am THE aeon! I am connected to the ship now the same way that Captain Spira was. But I will not suffer for eternity foolishly like she did."

Meimo scrambled to his feet and grabbed his staff, wary of the former maester's loyalty now that his return to life was complete. "The ship will die if you do not tend to the negative energy."

"It matters not to me. Death is a release from all suffering. And it matters little to you, considering your final plan," he reminded his assistant. The dark aeon crossed the floor to where Koji and Yuna stood. Yuna was horrified at what Seymour had turned into and, once more, refused to look at him. "In this form, as your Final Aeon, I could have defeated Yu Yevon and ruled Spira as the new Sin. You forced me to wait a long time and go about it the hard way, but in the end, I now control Spira in a way Yevon _never_ could." He cupped her chin in a hand that still dripped with ooze, but this time he was able to make contact and force her to meet his gaze. "And you have no chance of achieving a Final Aeon strong enough to stop me, since you killed Lady Yunalesca. I am the new Sin, but I need no cycle of death. I _am _the cycle of death. And I owe it all to _you_, Lady Yuna, for giving me such complete and utter power." He chuckled to himself in the haunted voices of the past and leaned forward to take the kiss she had denied him earlier.

))((

Koji dared to step between them. "Don't hurt her. Please. This isn't about her."

"She is my _wife_," Seymour answered in a scathing tone.

Koji tried not to let his expression mirror his disgust. This was what Yuna had tried to warn him about. This was how death tainted an aeon. It created a demon. "You can't be serious. You can't expect her to love you after all this -"

"I never expected her to love me!" Seymour thrust his fetid maw into Koji's face. "I could have cared less how she felt about me. I married the daughter of a respected high summoner – a woman with the greatest potential to defeat Yu Yevon – because I expected her to make me the most powerful being Spira had ever known. She could have shared that power, but she threw it away! She murdered me, and then trapped me in that dungeon dimension for all eternity."

"Then you don't need her now." Koji swallowed hard. "If she serves no purpose, … let her go. She's not strong enough to fight you now. You said so yourself. She has no Final Aeon."

"What I do with _my wife_ is _my business_," Seymour's demonic aeon sneered back at him. "She may have been stolen by that little blitzball brat, but as long as I live, she is legally bound to me. You _dare_ speak to me as if I do not deserve to take back what is rightfully mine? I thought all you cared about was getting your own life back so you could exact revenge on Shuyin."

Tidus hadn't stolen her from her husband, he had saved her from a monster. "I'd like a new deal. I don't want a second life anymore. I want Yuna."

"Spare me your heroics," Seymour countered.

"Shuyin stole Lenne from me!" Koji snapped in anger. "It's only fair that I get Yuna!" He glared up at Seymour, for once unafraid. "Let me have Yuna. I won't ask for anything else."

Angry that she was being traded like some commodity, but frightened at being unable to strike back, Yuna tried again to break away in spite of her hands being tied. Koji grasped her bound wrists and jerked her firmly back against the wall.

Seymour's eyes narrowed on the unsent spirit. "You know what will happen to you once Kyudou is resurrected, if you are not with us."

Koji trembled slightly, but remained stoic about his new demand. "I know."

"Very well, you can have Lady Yuna for the rest of your so-called, very _short_ life," Seymour groused in agreement, but then smirked as he walked away to get the magic book. "After which, she will belong to me anyway in the end. Everything in this world belongs to me now." Seymour chuckled to himself at his inevitable victory. "Come, Meimo. Kyudou awaits."

Meimo had taken the opportunity to heal and re-energize himself during the little spat between Seymour and Koji. But at Seymour's command, he teleported himself and the powerful new aeon somewhere beyond the sunken ruins of Baaj.

As soon as they were gone, Koji sighed with relief, sheathed his sword, and turned Yuna around to untie her hands. "You can hate me later. Right now we've got to get to Besaid. That's where they're going to resurrect Kyudou."

As soon as she was free, she faced him with confusion, uncertain whether to trust him again or not. Then, she ran back through the temple to where Meimo had thrown her com-link and fished it out of the water. Koji had followed, so after she dried it with the hem of her sleeve, she passed it to him with a desperate expression and pointed to her mouth.

Koji put the piece to his ear. "Hello? Is anyone listening? You've got to come get Yuna." He waited for a response, but received nothing.

Yuna took the device from him, shook it, and put it to her own ear, but it was dead. The water had short-circuited it. Dropping to her knees, Yuna buried her face in her hands.

He knew what she was thinking. She could swim now, but Baaj was in the middle of nowhere, and she had no defenses against water fiends without her garment grid. Koji tried to comfort her, but she pushed his hand away, stood, and ran back into the Chamber of Fayth. Sighing to himself, Koji followed again and found her in the farthermost corner, silently sobbing on the floor. Sitting on the cold stone beside her, he sighed. "Great. I'm no better off than when I started, and now I've just ruined everyone else's lives, too." He thought about swimming the distance between Baaj and Besaid for her. As an unsent, he knew he could do it, but he didn't know if he could get there in time. Then, an idea came to him that he didn't know why they didn't think of before. "Yuna! Summon Arantisu! You don't need to say anything to do that, do you? Isn't that kind of magic based on a dance, rather than speech?"

Yuna lifted her chin and wiped at her tears, leaving dirty streaks smeared down her cheeks. Summoning was a direct link between herself and her aeons, rather than relying on the forces of elements in the Farplane. Enthusiastic about his suggestion, she stood and summoned her wand into her hand without saying a word. Then, she backed away and began twirling and swirling Arantisu's special glyphs in the air.

In banishment, Arantisu had healed from her former encounter. So when she descended from the warding circles this time, she immediately launched an attack on Koji to pick up where she left off.

Yuna threw herself in front of the dragon and spread her arms to block her, but got knocked to the floor and received a nasty bite in the process. Arantisu stared at her in shock for having jumped into her line of attack, but Yuna only winced at her injury and gestured for Koji to explain.

"Yuna needs you to go to the Celsius and let them know she's here." He looked back to Yuna. "You've got to do everything you can to stop Seymour from resurrecting Kyudou. If you don't, Seymour's aeon will raise another aeon as his own, and together they will help Meimo take control of the ship's bridge. But Seymour doesn't care if the ship dies. He'll drain Spira into a death comet, and take it back to Earth, where they will launch an attack to conquer it."

Shaking her head at the terrible plan, Yuna turned to her faithful aeon with a questioning expression. Arantisu nodded in return that she understood, then Yuna banished her once more since it was easier for a spirit to travel great distances than an aeon. When Yuna turned to face him again, Koji sighed with relief that the Celsius would soon be on its way, and she could get out of here.

Beyond that, he didn't know what else he could possibly say to her. "Seymour's wrong. Death is free of suffering, but it's also free of laughter, ... love, ... and friendship. And in spite of the pain you sometimes go through to find and protect those things, ... that's what makes the one life you have worth living. Right?"

Touched by his change of heart, Yuna gestured a silent thank you for trading his chance at a second life for her freedom.

Koji looked to Yuna and all he could think of was Lenne. "You're a person, … not a trophy," he explained, echoing Shuyin's ghost from long ago.

Yuna reached out to hug him and let him know he was forgiven, even though her heart ached at having lost Tidus. Once again, the silent sobs began to flow.

Koji hesitantly returned the hug, then drew back to dry her tears. "We should swim up to the surface, so the airship can see us." As Yuna pulled away and nodded in agreement, Koji drew his sword, ready to lead the way - ready to fill in for Tidus as her guardian and make sure she got home safely, until they found a way to summon him once more.


	22. Chapter 22: Secrets from the Dead

Chapter 21: Secrets from the Dead

Upon banishment, Arantisu's spirit returned to her tomb beneath the ocean off the coast of Besaid. No longer bound in her aeon's physical form, the blind child's spirit unknowingly swam through the giant squid lurking nearby and followed the sound of the waves lapping onto the beach.

"Paine! Rikku!" she called as she ran ashore, but then she stopped and listened for the voices that should normally be there. Paine was usually doing martial drills on the sand. Brother spent a lot of time making loud machina noises in the belly of the airship. The Aurochs often held blitzball practice in the ocean. Fishermen traded stories and laughed at jokes as they repaired their nets and boats. And children usually played chase, splashing through the shallow tide. But today Besaid's beach was quiet. There was only the sound of the ocean's ebb and flow. Not even the seagulls had come.

"Where is everyone?" Arantisu raised her hands before her and started walking left, following the sound of the waves, hoping to run into the airship. She could remember what the airship felt like after being on it as an aeon, but as a spirit her sense of touch was disconnected. Unable to touch reality, she began to realize how completely inaccessible this material world was to a spirit. Unable to see, or sense her surroundings like in the Farplane, the child stopped walking and realized how lost she truly was. Without help, she could never hope to find her way. "Help!" she suddenly cried, hoping that at least her voice could break through the barrier between worlds. "Somebody, please! Tidus and Yuna need help!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

))((

"Poor, pitiful creature." Seymour and Meimo stood on the top of the cliff between Besaid's main beach and the alcove leading toward the eastern lagoon.

"She was half-guado, you know," Meimo observed as the watched the child's spirit scream for attention from her stranded position.

"Then she should be grateful for the mercy of whoever killed her so young. It is a cursed life to be half of something and all of nothing. I should know. Had I been completely guado, perhaps my father's politics would not have been so … complicated."

"And if you had been completely human?"

"I would never willingly be completely human, Meimo."

The human summoner looked to the aeon summoner, who cast him a slitted glance and a cold smile. "Apparently she is blind, as well. Someone should put her out of her misery. I told you Yuna should have been left as a statue," Meimo muttered unhappily. "She's obviously the one that sent her here."

"We no longer need to raid the child's tomb, since you have her key, but do what you must to prevent her from attracting attention to me." Seymour strode into the ocean and cast a nul-water spell over his resurrected body and precious book before diving under the waves and swimming toward the eastern cliff.

Meimo sighed and shook his head. "This wouldn't have happened if you had listened to me." Still, he climbed down the cliff and crossed the beach toward the child's spirit.

Arantisu heard his footsteps in the snow-dusted sand. "Hello? Who's there? Can you help?"

"Certainly," Meimo answered in the voice of his old man disguise. "What is it you need, my dear?" He knew of only one good way to stop a spirit from tattling. Drawing his summoner's staff, he began the dance that would open the Farplane.

))((

"Tidus and Yuna need help, but I can't find the airship to tell everyone where she is. If you could just guide me to the ... " Arantisu paused as a strange sensation flowed through her. The pyreflies that collectively shaped her spirit form began to drift apart. "To the ..." She paused again and lifted her arms. The magical bonds that held her unsent "life" to the Fayth's tomb beneath the waves began stretching and slipping away. "No! No! " Realizing she was in danger, the little girl fled across the open beach toward the central island. "Paine!" she cried out again. "Rikku!" She didn't care which direction she ran, as long as it was away from the strange magic this man was performing. "Buddy!" Where was everybody? "Cid!"

))((

Wakka and Lulu were bundled in their warmest clothing for the short trek from the village to the Celsius. Even baby Vidina was wrapped in blankets. They were on their way to find out if anyone had news on the search for Koji or the bizarre weather. But as they rounded the corner of the rock cliffs, they saw that the airship was gone and heard a child crying for help. When the little girl came into distant view, they saw that she was, in fact, a spirit, however her pyreflies were trailing behind her like white flames as she ran.

Lulu stopped in astonishment. "Is that Arantisu?" She had only seen the aeon's manifestation, never the child's spirit. "Wakka! Meimo must be trying to steal her key to the bridge!"

"You have to take her and Vidina back to the hut!" he insisted.

In agreement, Lulu shifted the baby on her hip and held tightly to his blankets as she and her husband raced after the fleeing ghost. "Arantisu!" Lulu cried out, hoping the frightened child could hear her.

It wasn't until Wakka was upon the child and stretched out his hand to grab her, that they realized they were unable to pick her up or lead her away by any conventional means. The small spirit screamed at the near contact and kept running.

"Tisu? It's Lulu! It's me, child! Follow my voice!" Lulu began humming the hymn of the Fayth. To her relief, Arantisu stopped running and turned to face her. Though the child had never been a temple Fayth, Lulu hoped the spirit would be familiar with the song because Yuna hummed often while doing small tasks. It gave the spirit pause enough. "That's right, Tisu," Lulu anxiously reached out to her. "Follow my voice. Come with me. We have to get you out of here." She glanced to Wakka who gave her a nod of approval for smart thinking. Then, she continued humming the hymn to give the blind spirit a sense of direction as she hurried both children back toward the village.

))((

Wakka growled under his breath in the general direction from which the spirit had come, then he turned and ran toward the beach to find out what had distressed her so. Along the way, he met two New Yevon warrior monks on patrol. "Follow my wife and kid back to the village!" he shouted in passing, but kept running.

The guards looked at each other knowing something had happened, and in agreement, one broke away toward the village to find Lulu. The other caught up to Wakka and grabbed his arm to hold him back. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, but I think Meimo just tried to send Yuna's last aeon. Lu's got her now, but -"

"If you chase Meimo, he'll just teleport away. We should report this to the praetor before we take action."

"Are you soft in the head?" Wakka argued. "We don't have time to report! Her pyreflies were on fire! Summoners don't have to stand next to a spirit to finish a sending!" He snapped his arm free and sprinted across the beach, where, as suspected, Meimo was doing a sending dance. Though not prepared for a fight, the former guardian charged forward, knocking the summoner off his feet to interrupt the dance, then tackling him to the ground.

Meimo struggled to break free from the big man, forcing his staff against his throat to push him back, then casting an ice spell at him.

Wakka took the frosty hit right in the middle of his chest. It knocked him on his back and sliced open a nasty cut through his layers of clothing, but he was well-bundled enough that his clothing took more frost damage than he did. Meimo began casting his teleport spell, but Wakka lunged forward and plowed him into the snow patches and sand with another body-crushing tackle before he could finish it. Wakka managed to land one hit across the summoner's nose before Meimo was able to slam his staff against Wakka's head and escape his hold.

Meimo's second attempt at the teleport spell succeeded.

"You sorry excuse for a son-of-a-chocobo! What's wrong with you, chasing little girls like that?" Wakka shouted and shook a fist at the empty beach where the fugitive summoner last stood. "You want to pick on someone? Come back here and take on someone your own size! I'll snap that little twig you call a staff into toothpicks!"

The New Yevon guard marched toward him. "I told you he would run if you chased him!"

"Well, you weren't doing anything to stop him!"

"You should have waited for me to consult the praetor!"

"'Tisu would have been gone by the time you finished talking to Baralai!"

"And now she's in danger again because you chased him away! You could have at least held back until I silenced him first!"

Still somewhat bound by the tradition he grew up in, Wakka fought the urge to curse at a New Yevon warrior monk. Giving his arms a frustrated swing, he growled in disgust at his failure and jogged back toward the village. When he caught up to the other guard, Lulu, Vidina, and Arantisu had made it safely home.

"Well?" Lulu expectantly asked.

Wakka looked at the frightened child hanging close to Lulu's skirt. "It was Meimo, alright. He got away, but at least I got one good hit in." He rubbed the spot where his head met the summoner's staff and winced as he flexed sore fingers. "Wow. Now I remember why I need a blitzball for that kind of thing, ya?"

Lulu frowned, disturbed that the summoner had escaped again. "Tisu, what happened?" she asked, attempting to touch the hair and face of the small spirit to calm and comfort her.

Arantisu was still crying. "Tidus and Yuna need help. Tidus is hurt really bad in the sky tower, and Yuna is stuck in an old temple."

Lulu exchanged an uneasy glance with Wakka. "The Celsius is probably looking for them."

"Which temple?" The New Yevon guard asked. "All of them are old."

Arantisu had been in aeon form when Yuna summoned her, so she had perfect recall of what she saw. "It had darkness, ... old stones, ... and lots of water."

"Baaj!" Wakka and Lulu exclaimed at the same time.

The New Yevon guard immediately tapped his com-link. "Praetor Baralai, High Summoner Yuna's been located at Baaj. The captain of the Aurochs has also been reported injured at some tower."

))((

The guard on the beach contacted Baralai seconds earlier with a report about Meimo's appearance and escape. Baralai ordered him to have the search team scout and guard the area closer to the village, since that's where Arantisu had been taken. As soon as Baralai learned of Yuna's location, he contacted the Gullwings. Having already found Tidus, the Celsius turned away from Mount Gagazet and sped toward Baaj.

Yuna and Koji were waiting above the water on the exposed surface of the sunken ruins. As soon as the familiar red airship was spotted in the sky, they jumped up, waving their arms madly, until the Celsius lowered its ramp, allowing them to hop aboard. Everyone welcomed Yuna with relief and hugs, and she threw herself into Tidus's arms the minute she saw him standing among them.

"Yuna ..." For a long moment, he held her tight, saying nothing. Then, he drew back and tried to check his overwhelming emotions. "I'm so, so sorry. That's twice I failed to -"

Yuna immediately put her fingers over his lips to stop him from saying anything else, then she pointed to her own mouth and looked over her shoulder to Koji for help.

Koji had been standing quietly at the entrance of the ship, certain that no one wanted him back. Now that Yuna and Tidus were home safe, everyone's attention – or rather, everyone's glares – turned toward him. "She's under a silence spell," he explained for her, coming forward to join them.

Cid was the first one to crack. "_You!_ I hope you can still swim like there's no tomorrow because I ought to kick your two-bit lying ass right off of this airship as shark bait!"

Paine drew her sword and stepped forward, pressing the flat of the blade to his throat. "After all the lies you told us and everything you've done, you actually think we're going to just let you come back on board like nothing ever happened? Give me one good reason not to kill you here and now."

Yuna stepped forward, shook her head strongly, and urged her friend to put the blade away. She faced Koji, who offered her the treasure box of magic documents left unguarded when Meimo and Seymour teleported away. Then, Yuna offered the stolen documents back to Paine to show that Koji had come through in the end.

The warrior reluctantly accepted the box and drew Yuna's dress plate from her pocket, so that she could change into a sphere that wouldn't be affected by the silence spell.

The summoner immediately changed into her white magic sphere and healed the dragon bite on her arm. It had stung painfully during and after her saltwater swim to the surface of the ruins. Sighing with audible relief, Yuna faced the rest of the Gullwings crew. "Thank you. Seymour still has Maedra's grimoire, but we have the rest of Spira's and Yevon's resources now."

"Spira's journal is upstairs with the rest of your stuff," Paine informed her, casting Koji another glare.

With a hurt expression, Rikku approached the brown-haired blitzball player. "Why did you lie to us, Koji? Why did you do all this? Don't you know Spira is dying because of what you did? We have to find a way to evacuate now." She turned to Yuna. "Baralai and Gippal need the key to the bridge, but Tidus said Meimo already has it, so ... I don't know what else we can do." On the verge of tears, she turned back to Koji, wanting an explanation.

))((

Beneath the waves of the eastern cliff, Seymour began casting another resurrection spell. It wasn't as elaborate as his own because this spell was not meant to join the resurrected life to the ship. This spell's only purpose was to restore one life.

))((

_Rikku ..._ If the entire world became unsent tomorrow, Koji knew Rikku's disappointment would continue to be real. Behind her, Brother and Buddy stood with dark, brooding expressions. None of them would trust him now.

Tidus stepped forward with an unusually cold expression. He was silent for a long moment as if trying to decide what to say, but then the hand bearing Brotherhood's bloody, red ribbon curled into a fist and slammed into Koji's jaw broadside. Then, Tidus spun and slammed his foot into Koji's chest, sending him sprawling backwards. Reacting on memory and reflex, Koji quickly scrambled to his feet and grabbed Tidus's shirt. Twisting him into a headlock, he threw him to the floor. Tidus pulled him down with him and wrestled him onto his back. But just as Tidus was poised to deliver another punishing blow to his head, Koji summoned his poisoned thorn defense.

Yuna gasped at the violent outbursts. "Koji, no! Tidus! Let go of him!" Dropping to her hands and knees, she stubbornly wedged herself between them, beneath Tidus's arm, and stared hard into Koji's eyes, warning him to back down.

Koji immediately withdrew the poisonous thorns to avoid harming Yuna, but both young men held their positions, pinning each other under threat. Both fought to slow their racing hearts and tempers, while everyone around them tensed, ready to draw weapons - ready to back Tidus.

When Yuna felt they each understood she would not tolerate another fight, she cautiously withdrew, sat back on her heels, and waited for one of them to make the next move.

Koji allowed himself a soft chuckle. "So _that's_ what it felt like when Shuyin decked that drunk fan in the bar. He always did have some amazing kicks." Letting go of Tidus, he rubbed his sore jaw. "The news report Meimo showed me in the memory sphere was less painful, though." He started to sit up, but Tidus scowled and shoved his back to the floor once more – hard.

"You let him take Yuna, and you left me to die!"

"Tidus!" Yuna scolded, pulling him back and folding her arms around him to keep him away. "We're okay now. I'm okay," she said, trying to calm him without giving in to tears. "Don't do this. Koji traded something very precious for me."

Tidus forced himself to stand and back away, but as he dabbed a cut lip with the red ribbon wrapped around his wrist, he continued to silently fume.

Koji chose to stay on the floor. "Well, at least you have better control over those Shuyin urges than he did."

"It's never too late to show you just how much like him I can be."

"You don't want to go there."

"Try me!"

"Stop it!" Yuna scolded again, standing to meet Tidus's angry glare with a very disturbed, pleading expression. "We don't have time for this. Everyone needs to hear what he has to say."

Koji sighed and looked away not sure whether to feel numb or distraught. "I deserved the Shuyin Special, okay? And I'm sorry for betraying you, but right now you need to fly back to Besaid. Seymour resurrected himself as an aeon. His soul is sealed into Spira through the Baaj temple, and he will try to raise Kyudou at Besaid next. If he succeeds, he will continue to create new aeons to help Kyudou and Meimo fight their way into the ship's bridge. Then, they will use the tracking sphere to take Spira back to Earth, ... if Seymour doesn't manage to drain all life from the planet first." Koji stood and faced Tidus with urgency. "You _must_ stop them from raising Kyudou if you expect Spira to survive this."

"_Kyudou?_" Tidus angrily stepped forward again. "You knew about this all along, and you didn't tell us?"

"I'm telling you about it now so you can stop them!" Koji fired back.

Paine's eyes narrowed. "It's that giant squid, isn't it? That's why you didn't want us to kill it. It's Kyudou."

Koji shook his head at her misunderstanding. "No," he quietly answered. He knew he had to tell them the truth, but this was the part of the story that he least wanted to confess.

"Out with it!" Tidus snapped impatiently.

Koji sighed at the waste of precious time, but they deserved an explanation. "That fiend isn't really Kyudou. It's me."

Tidus was bewildered. "_You?_"

"You know that unsent souls can turn into fiends. I died feeling betrayed and angry. Over time, those kinds of feelings harden into a shell of hate and despair. Soon, those are the only feelings the dead can remember. I became like the monster that took my life because that's the memory that haunted me in the pyreflies."

"I think we experienced something similar in a cavern where Shuyin had been entombed," Yuna sadly admitted, glancing to Paine and Rikku.

Both young women held their tongues, but it was clear they wouldn't soon forget the horror they experienced seeing and being possessed by Shuyin's memories in Den of Woe. Reliving a tragedy like that again and again was enough to drive anyone mad.

"I'd been a fiend for a thousand years when Kyudou found me beneath the docks of Zanarkand. It's where he died, too - another soul destroyed by Shuyin. At first I didn't understand how Shuyin could still be alive, but Kyudou explained he'd been duplicated and resurrected in a new body. It's Kyudou who witnessed the opening of the new Zanarkand library and surfaced as an unsent to find out what was going on. He started thinking of ways to punish Shuyin for what he'd done to us." Koji's body suddenly washed with a prism of pastel light - the kind that indicates that the pyreflies are beginning to thin. He looked down at his unsent body and tried to prevent himself from reacting too strongly to the few that flickered and floated away.

Rikku gasped. "What's happening to you?"

"I'm being drawn back into my own form. That means Seymour has already started Kyudou's summoning." He looked at them with a pained expression. "I know you have no reason to trust me, but you've got to take the ship back to Besaid and stop them."

Yuna turned to Cid. "I still believe in him. Please. We can't waste time."

Cid, Brother, and Buddy frowned at Koji, but they knew that if trouble was brewing on Besaid, even if it was a trap, they should try to thwart it. Reluctantly, they left for the bridge.

Paine turned to Koji with a grim expression. "When that fiend attacked me, did I fight you or Kyudou?"

"Kyudou. His soul is in my body, and I'm in his. By summoning both of our spirits at the same time, Meimo was able to allow us to temporarily switch pyreflies. Since Kyudou's shell was too recent to be hardened, I was able to shift his pyreflies to look like the old me. My own shell had become to rigid for change, so Kyudou had to remain in the body of a fiend, … until he could be resurrected."

Rikku made a face. "So, … you're in Kyudou's body right now? No offense, but ... bleh."

Koji tried to smile at her honesty. "Well, ... it's mine as long as I'm in it. It's not so bad. Better than being a giant squid. It allowed me to walk on land and meet you." Koji became ashamed as he continued exposing their secrets. "I was supposed to interact with Tidus and win him over as another lost Zanarkand native, so I'd have a reason to hire the Gullwings to find the aeon spells." He looked to the other blitzball player. "I didn't want you to know who I really was because I didn't know what you'd say. I was afraid you wouldn't remember me. But when I understood the connection between you and Shuyin, I had to let you know who I was to see if you could explain what he did to me."

Paine looked as if she was still tempted to slap him. "So, all of this was Kyudou's plan?"

"Yes. As a spirit, Kyudou went to Bevelle and haunted Meimo's dreams. He offered to free him if he would find Shuyin in the Farplane and bring him out to us. Meimo refused, saying Shuyin was too strong. He was afraid of being possessed again. So, Kyudou asked him to find a way for unsent spirits to walk the Farplane without being trapped in it. He told Meimo to summon Yevon and ask him how aeons are made because they're the only ones who can travel both dimensions without being trapped in either. Kyudou freed Meimo by absorbing damage from his anti-magic bracers. It wasn't enough to totally destroy him, but he was very weak when he came back to me."

Rikku turned and looked at the others. "If Baralai looked closely enough at his sphere recorders, I'll bet he'd see some pyreflies in front of Meimo just before he teleported out."

Paine shook her head as the ship's turn toward Besaid made everyone sway and shift to maintain balance. "If word of that jailbreak gets out, all the other prisoners are going to be praying to their ancestors," she sardonically commented.

Koji's body flickered again as his pyreflies thinned a little more. "Meimo said he teleported from his cell to the Via Infinito, thinking no one would look for him there. But he also wanted to see if Yevon was around, figuring he would be on the negative plane since he caused so many people so much grief."

"I don't think it works that way," Yuna answered. "Otherwise Shuyin wouldn't be in the Farplane, and Tidus wouldn't be here. He's part of Yevon's magic, but the Fayth were able to create him a second time. So, I'm pretty sure Yevon's at peace, in spite of everything he did as Sin. I get the impression the negative plane is a choice, but it's an unrestful choice so not many spirits choose it. That's why Spira volunteered to remain there to take up the slack."

Koji nodded thoughtfully.

"Is that where Meimo found out about Yevon's source of magic?" Tidus guessed.

"Yes," Koji answered. "But instead of finding Yevon, he found Seymour. Seymour offered to help us, if we could get Yevon's spells for aeon creation, and suggested that he may have learned it from finding something Maedra left behind, ... like a sphere. That's when Kyudou suggested asking the Gullwings to hunt for them and offered to exchange pyrefly shells with me. Seymour promised that once he was brought back to life, he would help Meimo get Arantisu's key to the ship, he would resurrect Kyudou and me, and we could all have a piece of Shuyin in the end." The unsent sighed heavily. "I know you don't believe me, but ... I really am sorry. After meeting you guys, all I wanted was to live again, but Meimo kept threatening to send me, so I couldn't openly back out. Then, I saw how Seymour was acting toward Yuna, and all I could think of was Lenne. I don't want to see anything like that happen again. I just want to put things right, ... before they get worse."

"You _can't_ put things right," Tidus severely admonished him. "Spira is dying!"

"You can stop them! Seymour is resurrecting Kyudou _right now. _If we're not too late, you will have only one aeon to battle, instead of two. After Seymour and Kyudou are defeated, you can send me."

Tidus's eyes narrowed at what he was requesting. "You _want_ us to send you? Whatever happened to that desire for a second life?"

Koji glanced briefly toward Yuna then cast his gaze to the floor. "If I'm not there for the rites, I'll return to my own fiendish form, rather than being resurrected with Kyudou. I'll be stuck in my own pyreflies again, but at least a thousand-year-old giant fiend can help you fight Seymour. And then you can free me." He moved a step closer to Tidus, still able to see Shuyin in him. "You freed your father from spending eternity as a fiend. Now I'm asking you to free me, too."

"What's the catch?"

Koji turned to Yuna. "Once my spirit is sent to the Farplane, entomb me in the Via Infinito as the ship's aeon. It's the only way to undo what I've done."

"Don't do it, Yuna," Paine warned. "You'd be giving control of the entire ship to someone who's already proven himself untrustworthy."

Yuna shook her head, touched by his offer, but frightened of it as well. "Koji, your soul has been tainted with death. Even in the Via Infinito, that kind of spell would transform you into a demon."

"A creature well-suited to handling negative energy. Seymour isn't even _trying_ to balance the flow. Do you really want him to stay at the helm? I'm willing to take on the _real_ captain's job. It's the only way to save Spira. After I'm sent, I'll head straight to the Via Infinito. You can find me there."

"But if you become a demon, will you remember who we are and why you're there?" Rikku spoke up.

"Rikku, ..." Koji approached her. "You reminded me how good it felt to laugh again. I will _always_ remember you." Cupping his hands gently over her cheeks, he gave her a soft kiss just as the last of his pyreflies fluttered and faded away.

Everyone looked at her with surprise, but no one was more surprised than she was.

))((

"Gullwings! We're coming in for a landing! Let's show Seymour what we're made of!" Brother shouted over the intercom.

The hatch opened before them and the waves and white sands were visible below.

Yuna checked each face among her companions. None of them seemed eager to go, least of all her. But she knew they must. "We freed Sir Ject! It's time to free Koji, too!"

At first, her cheer didn't seem to work. But then, Tidus reluctantly changed into his warrior sphere and drew Caladbolg. "Shuyin couldn't free him from that fiend, but now I have a second chance to save him." Accepting a misty-eyed nod of agreement from Yuna, he jogged past her down the ramp and dove into the water.

Rikku changed into her warrior sphere, drew her sword, and ran after him. "Wait up!"

Paine seemed oddly reluctant.

A strong gust of wind blew Yuna's hair across her face. "Now's your chance."

"To get even?" Paine looked down at the white caps below. "There's already enough of that going around." She passed the box of magical treasures back to Yuna. "Put this in a safe place first." Switching to her samurai sphere, she dove into the water, too.

Yuna hurried to the bridge to place care of the box in the hands of her Uncle Cid. Then, she hurried back down to the engine room ramp and dove into the water to catch up to her friends.

The surface temperatures were already warm enough to start melting the snow, but the ocean was still very cold, except for some unusually warm currents. The party of four swam toward the eastern lagoon, where they spotted the giant squid surrounded by swirls of pyreflies. Beside him in the water another set of swirling pyreflies were taking on the shape of a human male with long black hair that floated freely in the water. And before them was one of the most awful dark aeons they had ever seen, but they recognized his face immediately - Seymour. Kyudou's eyes opened just as Tidus burst forward in a flurry of bubbles, leading the attack.

Eager to catch his breath, Kyudou turned and swam for the surface. The squid caught him in its tentacles and tried to crush him, but Seymour cast a flare spell that forced the fiend to release its prey. The badly injured squid turned on Seymour and snapped at him with its long tentacles, locking him in a venom-tainted embrace. Tidus swam near and swung Caladbolg toward the dark aeon's neck. But, having the advantage of living between both worlds, Seymour transformed into a circle of light and escaped through the stream of magic. The giant fiend was all that remained, but it had been badly injured and wasn't even fighting back.

Frustrated to no end that Seymour had escaped, Tidus pointed toward the surface to indicate that someone needed to follow Kyudou. Rikku and Paine immediately turned and swam toward the shore. Yuna stayed behind with Tidus, knowing the remaining battle wouldn't be a difficult fight, … just a sad one.

))((

Tidus took a moment to remember how Shuyin felt about his last fight with Koji. He had never intended for his friend to die because of his own reckless mistakes. Tidus remembered how he felt when he had to fight his dad - how much he didn't want to be like him, how much he hated him, ... and yet how much he cared for him. It was caring enough to free Jecht from Yevon's madness that finally enabled him to deliver the killing blow.

The fiend snapped a shocking tentacle against the blitzball player's backside to discourage him from thinking about it too long.

Annoyed at being hurried, Tidus gave the squid a rude Shuyin-triggered gesture and hefted his heavily enchanted sword, but then he paused again, troubled. An ordinary sword fight would cause Koji the only pain an unsent could truly feel - being destroyed bit by bit. Deciding to use one of his most powerful combination moves, he gestured to Yuna to back away to a safe distance. Then, he swirled around in the water, speeding up, until he broke the surface. While in mid-air, he quickly energized his sword with strong magic and sliced down toward his target in a swift, precise gesture. He didn't cut anything but air, yet energy flares rained down below him, exploding all over the squid in unison.

When he splashed back down under the water, he saw the surrendered fiend's form disintegrating. A circle of pyreflies swirled around him for a moment, a last exchange between friends before one was drawn into the stream of magic.

Yuna swam to Tidus's side to comfort him with a hug, but they both knew the fight wasn't over yet.

Together, they swam to the surface, and jogged onto the beach, but only Rikku and Paine remained. "Where's Kyudou?" he immediately asked.

"Meimo teleported him away," Paine groused in disgust.

"Kyudou didn't even turn into anything big and ugly, and they still got away from us!" Rikku complained.

Frustrated, Tidus jabbed his sword into the sand and dropped to sit down beside it. "Damn you, Seymour," he muttered angrily under his breath.

"Is Koji ...?" Rikku started to ask.

"He's free now," Tidus quietly answered. Lifting his gaze to the dissipating clouds, he noticed the sun seemed larger and brighter than usual. He hoped it was because he just hadn't seen it in a few days, but the air was too humid with the quick evaporation of the snow, and strong gusts of warm wind were beginning to churn the ocean. The weather spell was still out of control. "Yuna, ... Spira's energy flow needs to be stabilized before we do anything else. Baralai and his army can secure the bridge against Kyudou and his cronies, but if we lose the ship there will be no point." He gave her a meaningful look. "Koji was right. He's our only chance at saving Spira."

Yuna shook her head. "Even if I agreed to do that – which I didn't - Seymour has Maedra's spell book. I only have Yevon's and Spira's related extras." She sniffled and blinked some of the salt water from her eyes as she ran a damp hand over her wet bangs to keep them out of her face. "We have to find Seymour and take that book away from him."

Paine began to pace, dragging the reversed edge of her blade in the sand. "We just have to think where they might have gone - some place where they can raise more aeons without being interrupted. Back to Baaj?"

"Wonder why Kyudou didn't come back all yucky like Seymour?" Rikku wondered as she sat down in the sand next to her cousin. "He can't do anything big and powerful just being human like that, can he? Not that I'm complaining."

"Don't underestimate him," Yuna warned. "He may not be as human as he looked. Shiva looked almost human in her aeon form, but according to Spira's journal, no matter what form the dead may take, beautiful or grotesque, if they are brought back from the grave, they will always be demons. And even if he is only human, he can still do one very important thing. He walks with Meimo now."

"Wait a minute," Paine stopped pacing. "Koji said that their original plan was to make Shuyin suffer. Shuyin's in the Farplane. How can you make someone suffer who's already sent?"

Rikku became flustered. "They could make him disappear – like Captain Spira!"

"Or, they could force him to live again," Paine suggested with a grim frown.

Yuna became alarmed. "You don't think they'd actually …"

"Resurrect Shuyin as their next dark aeon?" Rikku worried.

"That would be bad! _Very_ bad!" Yuna turned on her knees to face the rest of the group. "The Cloister of Trials was created to weed out summoners who weren't strong enough to channel the aeon's power, but they were also designed to give the Fayth a choice – a trial to determine whether the summoner was worthy before they bonded. Once summoned, an aeon must obey his summoner and defend him with his life. If they turn Shuyin into a dark aeon, he won't get the chance for a trial."

Paine liked this less and less. "He'll have to obey their every command - a cruel way to humiliate someone, but a good way to get long-lasting revenge."

"Kyudou and Seymour have physical forms now. They could go to the Farplane without being trapped." Yuna stood. "We've got to warn Baralai that they might be headed his way."

Paine nodded in agreement and both of them ran back into the airship.

"Where's Vegnagun when you need it?" Tidus grumbled. "One blast into the Farplane and Seymour and company would be stellar _goo_."

Irritated, Rikku stood and dusted the sand off of her backside. "Stop talking like Shuyin. You're starting to weird me out."

"Well, they would."

"But so would everyone else!" Rikku headed back to the airship, as well.

Tidus sighed to himself and wondered if he should even bother to follow. If they were going into the Farplane, he couldn't help. Then again, maybe they would chase Seymour out of the Farplane so he could slap him around with Caladbolg a few times. That was enough to make him stand and follow.

))((

The snow at the Bevelle temple had already melted, and it was beginning to feel rather warm. After arriving at the airship sphere on the outer bridge, Rikku changed back into her thief sphere, and Tidus changed back into his guardian sphere. Paine and Yuna were more cautious, continuing to hold onto their strongest defenses. Then, all of them ran into the temple to find Gippal back at his monitors taking readings.

"How bad is it?" Yuna asked as they approached.

"You're not going to believe this, but support systems are being selectively shut down. Clasko called in reporting that the Calm Lands have flooded because of melting snow from Gagazet. But as it turns out, there was a dormant volcano under all that snow, and now it has awakened. So, north region is getting ready to explode, while the southern deserts bake to a crisp in record temperatures now that the rain and snow are gone." Gippal looked almost giddy as he delivered this horrible news because there is a fine line between extreme stress and mania. "We're having a whole year's worth of natural disasters in a couple of days!"

"I believe it," Tidus grumbled. "Kyudou's running the show now."

Gippal blinked at mention of the dead man's name. "_What?_"

"I'll explain it. You guys go on." Tidus placed a hand on Yuna's shoulder before she could walk away with her friends. "You know, it's okay if you want to bring Seymour up here, so we can chat about old times, reminisce about Sin, remind him that touching you means I get to ram my sword up his -"

Yuna interrupted with a kiss, then offered a smile sympathetic with his frustration at being forbidden to join them in the Farplane. "I'll be careful," she reassured him as she pulled away.

Tidus returned the smile to encourage her because there was little else he could do as he watched her run away with Rikku and Paine to find Baralai.

))((

In the recesses of the temple of Baaj, soaked to the skin with sea water, Kyudou collapsed on the floor in exhaustion as soon as the teleport spell released him. "If I see one more squid it will be too soon," he snarled in contempt.

Meimo smiled down at him. "Welcome home, Kyudou. How do you feel?"

"Like death."

"You look surprisingly well. Better than Seymour at any rate."

"The kid bailed on us, didn't he?" Kyudou coughed up seawater and fought to catch his breath after the unexpected underwater fight. "He never showed up for the rites, and he attacked me when I tried to leave."

"No matter. Koji's so-called friends will destroy him now that they know the truth." Meimo went to where he had stashed the magic documents, but then thumped his staff with displeasure against the stones. "That slippery little toad! He stole the remaining magic documents!"

"Never trust a turncoat." Kyudou lifted his chin, pulled the long black hair out of his face, and plucked a string of seaweed off of his shirt. "At least we got what we wanted, even if he didn't."

"Absolutely. I have the maps and the key from Arantisu. I have the tracker sphere from the library. And Seymour has control of the life-support systems so he can keep us alive down in the main bridge after the rest of this ship fails. It was his idea to drain the ship, mind you, not mine."

"A minor sacrifice in exchange for a planet," Kyudou reminded him with a confident smile as he sat up. "Those who support our cause may join us in the safety of the inner halls. We should send out word as soon as I have manual command of the controls. Spira's survivors may join us on Earth after we have spoken directly with its leaders and presented our demands. Either they surrender and make concessions for their actions against their own colony ship, or they will meet our _new_ captain face-to-face in a manner that our _old_ one _should_ have the first day they threatened her. Yevon dared to turn on Bevelle, but he didn't go far enough! He should have looked to the true source of the attempt to destroy us. Seymour can have the remains of this burnt-out tin can, as long as he can give our founding fathers a taste of what it's been like to live with a thousand years of Sin. That planet belongs to us. It's not only rightfully ours, we deserve it."

Meimo chuckled lightly. "We can stop calling ourselves the Echo Alliance and start calling ourselves Spira's Hand of Revenge," he jokingly added.

"Just make sure that Seymour doesn't backtrack on his word to keep us safe in the bridge," Kyudou warned.

"Not to worry. There's only one thing left to do, and that will keep him in check. Are you ready?"

"Are you kidding? I've been _dying_ to come back for this." Kyudou laughed and made himself stand, but then the laughter took on a cold, hard, emerald gaze. "Let's go."


	23. Chapter 23: Yuna's Final Aeon

Chapter 23: Yuna's Final Aeon

Chaos now held Spira wholly in its grip. The ronso fled their caverns toward the Calm Lands at the first sign of rock slides and rumbles from deep within the sacred mountain. The carnival activities scattered throughout the plains shut down, and the operators fled to Bevelle, leaving the lowlands to flood with melted snow. Most of the excess water drained like small waterfalls over the sides of the deep gorges cut into the land from the Machina Wars, but the lowest depressions created swampy pools like in Macalania. And the rest of Spira was simply beginning to bake.

In Bevelle, the citizens were beginning to bombard the temple with questions about the extreme conditions changing so rapidly, so when the Gullwings arrived in Baralai's office, he was very harried. He listened to everything they had to say to bring him up to date on the situation, and then, he told them he had made a very important decision. "With everything happening all at once, I think I'm going to make information my next priority. Someone has to tell the people of Spira what's going on. I was hoping to break it to them gently later this year with the opening of the library's fifth floor; but ... I've decided to tell my search teams and the other regional leaders to begin informing people of the fact that our world is actually a ship. They must begin preparing for eventual evacuation. Until they receive official notice, however, we will try to keep everyone in their homes and try to stay calm. We don't need hysteria making this worse, but I can tell that's where we're headed if we don't come up with something quick. I need to travel to Luca and use the broadcasting system there while it still works, so that I can give public announcements as we go along. You can contact me there. Nooj and I have troops down in the Farplane guarding each entrance into the Heart. They are at your disposal, Lady Yuna. Do whatever you consider necessary to stop Seymour and retrieve the key to Spira's bridge."

"What about Baaj? Seymour's soul is entombed there. That's where he's controlling the ship."

"I can't spare any more bodies, but before I leave, I'll contact Gippal about deploying some of his machina."

"And what about Koji?" Yuna looked to him with a mixture of shame and worry. "I'm sorry I was too stubborn to talk to you about him earlier, but ... I could use your advice now."

Baralai pulled off his jacket and loosened the neck of his linen shirt. The heat was beginning to get to him as well. "Do you trust him?"

Yuna debated with herself for a minute, but then nodded. "He was very hurt, but I think he realizes now that he won't gain peace by continuing to feed anger and resentment."

"Then he is a better choice than Seymour, ... for now."

Yuna nodded in acceptance of his opinion and faced Rikku and Paine trying not to let her resolve waver at the thought of what she now had to do. "Let's go reclaim Maedra's book and Arantisu's key."

))((

Inside the Farplane, the souls of the dead continued to cry out eerily as they were drawn through several of the whirlpool clouds in the gateway to the other world. The pale blue-green pillars of magic that held open the portal were beginning to thin. The once-brilliant, celestial orb that lit the surreal sky over the soft meadow was beginning to absorb the dark vapors around it, and the light within the Abyss was beginning to flicker and dim. The rushing of the waterfalls had ceased, and where too many flowers been sucked through the gateway with the souls, the metal hull of the ship was exposed as it had been before Maedra's magical touch transformed it into a place for life beyond death.

Heat was beginning to rise internally from the ship's central engines and externally from the atmospheric spell surges, making the armed patrols from New Yevon and the Youth League very uncomfortable on their watch. It was tempting to strip out of armored attire, but considering they just received word that Seymour was on his way, they dare not. Patience was wearing thin on this imminent attack. Everyone stood ready. No one spoke. Then, ... movement.

Meimo and Kyudou teleported into the Abyss. At first, they were surprised to be met and surrounded by armed warriors, all saluting them with loaded weapons. But then again, they had been expecting a confrontation eventually. A command was given and hush grenades where thrown to stop Meimo from teleporting out. Both men coughed away the horrible smelling smoke and effectively lost their voices. But Meimo reached for a bottle of Echo Screen in his purchased belongings, and Kyudou, having died with his sword, drew it in his defense once again. They weren't worried. They knew they had an ally in this place.

Hiding among the dying sparkles of the flowers, a soul rose from among the dead and transformed itself back to life. Seymour had been watching and waiting for this reunion. His clawed, bony hand cast a powerful Confusion spell on a quarter of all the warriors. Then Kyudou easily slashed his way through the guards more determined to kill each other. After Meimo consumed enough potion to reclaim his magic, he cast sleep spells on the guards trying to defend themselves against their own comrades. Finally, with one Ultima spell, Seymour managed to knock out the remainder. The unanimous victor against the Youth League's and New Yevon's forces, Seymour then used his newly acquired control of the ship's magical functions to seal all portals to the Farplane keeping further intruders out.

"Oh, that really was too easy." Seymour smiled as he walked across the fallen bodies in the failing magical dimension. He was safe from being trapped within it, now that he had his new living body. "Are you sure you want to do this?" He began setting up for one final resurrection spell. "This all seems like a lot of bother. I hardly need him. I can control the ship's movements myself now."

"I didn't _need_ him to begin with, I just want to hold him accountable to his deeds." Kyudou turned his stormy gray eyes toward the maester's aeon. "I'm not going to change my mind now. Besides, we could still use him. You don't know how to reach Earth without the tracking sphere, and I doubt it will be this easy all the way to the bridge. There will be more guards within, probably more heavily armed. The closer we get to the Heart, the harder it will be to break through their defenses. I suggest a change of strategy for getting into the bridge and setting our course. Then, we can use him when we're ready to seize command."

"Then what would you suggest?" Meimo asked, cautious of this new idea.

"Blend again. Seymour was in here the whole time, and no one knew it. Koji was able to get the magic records because no one suspected him." Kyudou walked to one of the sleep-induced warrior monks and began stripping his uniform to change into it himself. "Meimo, where are the key items?"

The summoner opened his outer robe and retrieved the sphere and Arantisu's pendant to pass to him. "Are you going to set the course now?"

"Yes. The sooner the better. I hate to miss this, though. You'll have to tell me about the look on his face when he realizes he's going to be in eternal bondage to us, hm?" Kyudou smiled, but the smile still did not reflect in his cold eyes. He straightened the stiff high collar of his red coat and then grabbed the warrior monk's helmet. "Ironic that my father helped found this organization, but now I have to hide from them. Not for long, though. I will be back in control shortly. Wish me luck." Kyudou jogged toward the portal that would lead him deeper into the Heart of the Farplane and waited.

"Very well," Seymour answered with boredom as he released his hold on it to allow Kyudou to slip through the next line of defense.

Kyudou barely made it through the door when he was almost met with friendly fire. So, as Seymour sealed the portal shut behind him, he acted with great urgency. "Everything's under control in there!" he told his fellow warrior monks. "Meimo tried to teleport in, but then escaped the same way. The Abyss is apparently his only means of getting down here, so my lieutenant gave orders to seal off the area from the other internal corridors. We're still waiting on word from Baralai, but we'll pass it along as soon as we hear from him." He waited until the other warrior monks lowered their guns. "Now, I have another message to deliver, … if you'll excuse me."

Kyudou pushed his way past the armed unit and hurried the rest of the distance through the machina-lined interior of the Farplane until he finally reached the Heart. No one he passed questioned a warrior monk on a mission, until he actually reached the pinnacle on which Vegnagun once sat. There, he repeated the same story to the guards with a slight difference. "We did manage to recover the key from Meimo, though. I was told to open the bridge and prepare it for a new unit of guards."

"Is that part of the evacuation plan?" one of the guards asked.

Kyudou didn't know of any evacuation plan, nor did he know how much the guards had been told about the situation, but he nodded and flowed with the guard's error. "Yes. Baralai has decided that it would be best to go ahead and find a place to land where the atmosphere is livable, regardless of what happens to Spira."

The guards stepped aside, and Kyudou almost smiled to himself as he knelt and opened Arantisu's locket to retrieve the small disk within. Slipping the disk into the barely noticeable keyhole in the floor of the pinnacle, he stood back and watched as the invisble bridge slowly materialized around them. None of the New Yevon guards had actually seen the bridge they were guarding, so they were astonished at its size. It filled most of what seemed like so much empty space within the Farplane's upper dome. Kyudou removed the precious disk, which also contained Spira's travel logs, and gave the warrior monks a grateful nod before jogging up the steps and entering the ancient control center. The doors hissed shut behind him, and he immediately searched for and set the lock.

Allowing himself a small sigh of relief, the sphere-hunter-turned-thief removed his helmet and approached the main controls. Setting the helmet on one of the seats, he removed the tracking sphere from his pocket. Turning it over, he found the disk-shaped slit and inserted the key with the information into the memory device. As soon as he did so, one of the computer panels lit up and displayed a holographic map. A sphere-shaped stand rose from the console. Kyudou crossed to the navigation system and inserted the sphere into its holder, then the entire arm slid back into the console. More computer panels lit up and several automated systems began charging after a thousand years of drifting through space. Kyudou left the ship to set its own course toward Earth from the automatic tracking device. He trusted Seymour to keep the necessary portions working, while he began his search for more information on actual operations of the vessel.

))((

"I insist on doing the final command myself," Meimo told Seymour as the dark aeon summoner finished casting the dimensions and wards for the final resurrection spell.

Seymour paused in his preparation and blinked at Meimo with condescending amusement. "A bid for power against me?" He would not call the elementals this time, but he had already summoned the liches for their input. They cackled softly to themselves as they waited for yet another dark aeon to rise.

"You agreed that Shuyin would be given to us. If you claim him for yourself, then you are breaking our agreement."

"You are too weak of a summoner to possibly -"

"I was able to channel your life force under these circumstances; I should also be able to channel his." Meimo was much more confident in his own abilities now. "According to our agreement, you may have Spira, ... but we get Shuyin for when we travel to Earth. Need I remind you Seymour, that while my summoning skills may not be up to par with yours, I am just as skilled at banishing and sending. I could put you right back where you came from."

"And I could strike you dead with one command," the demon summoner reminded him, crossed the warding circles toward his human counterpart. "Don't play petty games with me. This bid for control of Shuyin is an attempt to keep me in check." The demon's lip curled beyond his reversed fangs and he snorted in trivial humor. "No one can banish me now. Not even Shuyin is a threat, so I will let you have your little pet. Go ahead and call him. He's all yours."

Seymour was right, of course, but at least with being able to control Shuyin Meimo knew he had a fighting chance if their partnership with the former maester turned sour. With the rest of the spell having been prepared for him, and after pausing to drink down a soothing bottle of Ether vapors to recover any magic spent teleporting, Meimo dared to reach into the remaining flow of consciousness that surrounded them in that place. Using his skills as a summoner, rather than magical rites yet, he evoked the spirit he sought. "Shuyin, you have no choice but to answer my call this time. Come out, come out, wherever you are," he lightly sang in a taunting manner.

Pyreflies coalesced within the midst of the warding circle until Shuyin's complete apparition had formed, but he didn't look happy about it once he saw who had called him. The scruffy-headed blitzball player folded his arms across his colorful uniform and shifted his weight. "Meimo ... Hmm, long time no see. Let me guess. You're here and your partner isn't, so that means _you_ won the battle in the houseboat. Am I right? You know, no offense, but my money was on him."

Meimo accepted the insults with a wry smile. "Say what you will, Shuyin. You cannot deny my summons this time. Those glyphs around you are wards designed to draw you here and keep you here until I decide to release you."

"Unless, of course, I change your mind about it." The ghostly blitzball player laughed lightly at his own joke, only to meet the stone expression of the summoner. "Ah, no sense of humor." He was as unimpressed now as he had been the first time they threatened him and Tidus, so his attention was instead drawn toward Seymour, whom he blinked at with doubt. "Do I know you?"

"Not yet, but I believe we will have plenty of time to get acquainted," Seymour answered. "You're already every bit as immature as Tidus, though, so I'm not sure I'm going to relish it."

"Well, at least there's hope for Tidus. Immaturity can always grow up. Butt-ugly, however, will always be just butt-ugly." Shuyin ignored the reversed-fang snarl crossing Seymour's skull-like face in response to the insult. Instead, he turned his attention back to Meimo. "Okay, what kind of twisted little favor do you want this time? Still want me to possess Captain Spira and get her travel logs?"

"No need for that. We already have them," Meimo proudly informed him.

Shuyin wasn't expecting that. For the first time since being summoned, he paused to look at the bodies of the warriors on the ground and the worsening condition of the Farplane around them. "What's going on in here?"

Meimo stepped forward, glad to see him finally taking this seriously. "Spira is dying, and you are going to help us save it." The summoner braced himself mentally for the rush of magic that would pass through him and looked the long-dead spirit in the eye as he gave the final necromantic command. "Shuyin! Come forth!"

))((

"_What?_" Shuyin suddenly felt his limbs, torso and neck grasped by invisible chains. He grunted in discomfort as he became paralyzed by the unseen forces. Then, he watched in fear as the inescapable glyphs drawn in the air rose and swirled him, weaving him into a cocoon of light and color. His heart thumped hard against his ribs, and his brain throbbed with pain as electrical impulses struck them. He cried out as the elementals combined their substances to reform bones, muscles, nerves, and skin, reversing his state of decay. Bullet holes tore through him all over again, but mended. And then, his own human body was stretched and mutated into something utterly inhuman. He was being ripped from death back into life, but an essential part of him was missing – something that existed somewhere else.

))((

Just then, Yuna, Rikku, and Paine teleported into the Abyss. They were horrified to see they were too late.

))((

Within the confines of the Via Infinito beneath the Bevelle temple, Koji's soul floated aimlessly, waiting for his new friends to arrive, ... if indeed they would. He had willingly come here and sealed himself in, so now there was no need to send him, but they probably would never trust him again. And the souls around him made him fear for their safety if they did. So much hatred and anger could be felt among the thoughts that continued to exist in here. He wondered how Captain Spira managed to stay sane in this overwhelming despair for so long. These were the restless souls that resented being sent. They delighted in supplying destructive magic when drawn upon. And, Koji noticed, they seemed to be getting stronger. Pyreflies filled the empty corridors, and more and more of the dead souls were shifting and solidifying into fiends. The dimensional boundary of the negative plane itself seemed ready to burst at the seams. Koji yearned to so something as the fiends increased, but he could do nothing without Yuna.

Then, something strange happened - a ripple. It was not a ripple the ordinary eye could see. It was a ripple belonging only to spirit magic. Following the ripple, dozens of extremely powerful fiends - some among the worst on Spira - began dropping out of the air into solid form and leaping through walls. Like a drop of oil suddenly becoming water-soluble, the negative plane began bleeding into Spira's reality.

Koji watched in dismay as fiend after fiend escaped its eternal unrest to walk the land of the living again. _This is unbelievable! Yuna! Please hurry!_

))((

Up on the spire of sacred Mount Gagazet, the flaming ball of magic revolving around the Sora Shi observatory wobbled and became a muddy color. The sphere was no longer spinning smoothly at all. The forces of nature duplicated inside the bio-dome, which were meant to create new land on the colony ship, continued reviving and releasing their constrained energy.

The volcano dormant beneath the mountains erupted. All of Spira shook violently. Lava flowed where snow used to be. And as pressure of the internal gases exploded against the rock and concrete infrastructure, the sphere set off the next round of elemental magic in the dying spell.

))((

"What was that?" Tidus sat upright feeling the jolt in the ground beneath him. He had been lying on the slabs of stone in the temple floor trying to stay cool amid the heat wave.

"That, my friend, was an earthquake," Gippal informed him, fighting to stay in control of his frustration as his monitors began to overheat. "Fortunately just a small one, but apparently there's activity going on near Gagazet again." The engineer thought he saw a pastel prism of light flood Tidus's features. Frowning slightly, he rubbed his tired eyes and wondered if he had imagined it. "Hey. You feeling okay?"

"You mean other than feeling like a popsicle left in the sun?" Tidus grabbed the longish strands of hair at the back of his neck and peeled them away from where they had begun to stuck to his skin. "I'm having a serious discussion with Yuna about this no hair-cuts thing when this is over. She can't expect me to play another blitz season like this," he complained, holding it in a short ponytail.

Gippal glanced his way. "I'm sitting here watching the end of the world, and you're complaining about looking like a girl come blitzball season."

Tidus immediately dropped the ponytail and frowned at the chiding sarcasm. "That's _not_ what I meant."

"Large energy surge on the way," Gippal warned. Another quake shook the building, leaving it to sway like a boat on the ocean for a few moments. Smoke rose from one of the machina set-up's central power units, and then the entire thing snapped with electricity and went black. The leader of the Machine Faction sighed heavily and hung his head. "I love my job, I love my job, I love my job ..."

"If these are the gravity-based spells, then that means there's only one spell left in the cycle." Tidus used his sleeve to wipe the increasing sweat on his brow. "Are we running out of time?"

"I can't tell one energy surge from another now. My readings are completely shot. Quakes are probably bending and cracking infrastructure undoing _every single freakin' repair job_ that we _ever_ did over an _entire year_!" Gippal vented as an incoming message from the com-link buzzed static in his ear. "Holy mother of unholy Yevon! You had better give me some good news, Baralai!"

In spite of their predicament, Tidus couldn't help but chuckle to himself at Gippal's spazzed nerves and the effect his curse had on the indignant priests that had been rushing about. He didn't envy him any, that was for sure.

"We're ready to take off for the attack on Baaj," Buddy's voice came over the com-sphere from the Celcius, regarding the request from Baralai earlier.

"Oh. Then, remember to lace the explosives with a healthy helping of those anti-magic crystals from Macalania and fire away. And while you're at it, fly north and tell me what's going on up there! I lost my feeds from that region."

"Roger."

Gippal sighed heavily and wiped at the sweat dripping down his face. Even his eye patch was beginning to feel uncomfortable and wet. Finally, in frustration, he pulled off his shirt and flipped it over the monitors. "Engine's overheating for some reason, as well. Why would those systems even be starting up now? Stupid ship has a mind of its own as it is, but then Seymour has to step in and start screwing around the 'do not touch' buttons and - awww, he better not be taking us to Earth with those two morons already." But he knew as he rambled to himself that's exactly what had happened.

As Gippal went to get his tools to see if he could set up a more powerful cooling system for what remained of his operations, Tidus's attention was drawn to the local monitors just beneath the place where the engineer left his shirt. These monitors focused on the Via Infinito and began displaying fiends - lots of them - dropping out of thin air and jumping through walls. "What the ...?" He grasped the shirt and jerked it away from the screens. All levels were releasing everything within their hellish confines. "Gippal ... " He backed away until he bumped into the engineer's back. "Gippal, ... we are going to _die_." Tidus pointed to the monitors.

Gippal turned around to see what he was talking about and dropped his handful of tools at the shocking site. His hand went to his ear to hit the general com-link between all of his connections. "Emergency defenses backup needed at the Bevelle temple NOW! Teleport to main lobby immediately!"

"We need summoners to send them back in. I'll go get summoners," Tidus volunteered.

"Summoners aren't any good if the Farplane can't contain the sent souls."

Tidus froze. "You think the Farplane's gone?"

"Gone, overloaded, vaporized, pureed, whatever!" Gippal paused a moment, suddenly hushing Tidus, though he had been the one raising his voice. "Listen ...". Grabbing Tidus's shoulder, he pointed toward the wing where the entrance to the Via Infinito was located. Echoing through the numerous levels, they could hear the howls and roars of the fiends that had just found their freedom and were on the way to the surface. "We're gonna die," he repeated Tidus's prediction.

In spite of the heat, Tidus switched back to his black basilisk-armored warrior sphere and drew Caladbolg.

Gippal ran to his available machina and began programming them into attack mode. That was when he saw it again - the prism of colors washing across Tidus's body. And this time it was accompanied by a spark of pyrefly dust floating away. "Um, ... I don't mean to alarm you _more_, but something's happening to you, man." Gippal uneasily pointed.

Tidus had no idea what he was talking about until he looked down and saw a few pyreflies break away. His own composition was changing from solid energy to light, and his heart sank into the pit of his stomach at the sight. "No. Not again." He looked to Gippal, frightened and helpless to stop it. "I'm fading. What should I do?"

"You're fading? _Now?_" Gippal had never seen either of Tidus's previous ordeals with being sent, but he recognized the familiar break-up of magic compared to when a fiend had been defeated. "You can't fade _now_! I need back-up! Can't you ... _hold it _or something?"

"This isn't like going to the toilet in the middle of a movie, Gippal! I'm coming apart!" The blitzball player winced with anxiety, but tried to calm himself. "Maybe Meimo's just trying to scare me again. Maybe it's just a teleport spell like last time." He looked to Gippal, but the engineer didn't seem to be convinced either. And if the Farplane was dying ... "I've got to find Yuna." Tidus sheathed his sword and started to run.

Gippal caught his arm. "You can't go down there. You'll make it worse!"

"If I'm going to fade anyway, I have to see her before I go!" Pulling free, Tidus ran as fast as he could out of the temple toward the teleporter. Gippal's crew members, completely armed with machina were showing up, so that he had to push his way through them.

Inside the temple, Gippal pulled out his large gun and ran to the wing where the secret entrance to the Via Infinito was located. The first fiend out of the hole in the floor was a tremendously large claret dragon, but it received an anti-magic crystal in the ribs for its effort to surface. The anti-magic burned the fiend's pyrefly shell, disintegrating it completely, but an elderdrake followed it and then two humbabas. Gippal dodged behind the door to avoid the deadly flames of the elderdrake's retaliation. But in doing so he opened the path for the humbabas to run into the main lobby. Checking around the door sill, he fired at the elderdrake, sinking an anti-magic bullet into its skull and burning it away from Spira's energy reserve forever.

Gippal heard running feet and clanking machina behind him. His programmed bots were attacking the two humbabas, and his back-ups were coming into the action now. "Send someone down to the prison to bring up the barrels of anti-magic from Macalania!" he shouted to those near enough to hear him. "Kill anything that comes out of this door or you get no bonus rounds!" Then, hefting his heavy gun to his shoulder, he targeted the next fiend and fired again.

))((

By the time Tidus teleported back to the airship, he could feel himself beginning to genuinely panic. Without a word to Buddy, Brother, or Cid on the bridge, he remained at the teleport sphere and selected the Farplane's Abyss on the menu. By the time he arrived in the magical plane, he was already thinning. "Yuna!" He ran to her, but his attention was drawn straight to the magical rites in progress where Meimo stood with Seymour. "Am I fading with the Farplane, or is he sending me?"

"Tidus, what are you doing down -" Rikku started to fuss, but then gasped at his transluscent condition and grabbed his wrist. "Yunie! He's fading again!"

Yuna turned from one horror to another. "No... " She touched his shoulders, his cheek, and finally, in a desperate attempt to keep him present, hugged him tight. "NO!" Fear and sadness overwhelmed her as she realized what was happening. This wasn't a sending spell, and the Farplane wasn't dead yet, but ... "They're bringing you back with Shuyin! Tidus, they're making you real!"

Desperate to stop them from giving him the one thing he once thought he wanted most, Tidus drew Caladbolg, growled, and ran straight at Seymour. Leaping in the air, he cast his energy rain combination - not once, but twice - over the entire spell area, hoping to disrupt it.

Seymour heard the voices behind him, frowned at their intrusion, and cast a magical shell around their rites just in time to nullify most of the damage caused by the energy explosions. They both received some injuries, but Meimo fought to keep his concentration on the life rushing through him until he had finished the casting. Seymour snorted and slashed his hand through the air to cast a Flare spell back at the blitzball player in retaliation. Tidus was knocked backwards head over heals, and landed in a crumpled heap on the hot, metallic floor.

))((

"Tidus!" Yuna ran to his side. "Tidus wake up! You have to hold on! You have to fight it!" She cast a Full-Life spell on him but it failed. There wasn't enough substance left to absorb the healing magic. The heat, the magical attack, the Farplane, and the resurrection were all too much. He was unconscious and slipping away fast.

"Seymour's not the one channeling the spell - Meimo is!" Paine realized as the liches cast their dark magic over the resurrected soul.

"Don't you dare finish that spell!" Rikku drew her double daggers and sprang over Yuna and Tidus to break Meimo's concentration, if not him. Paine powered up her samurai sword with magic, ready to swoop in behind Rikku for the killing blow.

"Do you honestly think you can stop us?" Seymour cast two more flare spells, throwing Paine and Rikku back in the same manner that he had Tidus.

Yuna's hands fell through Tidus's torso to the floor, and tears began to fill her eyes as the last of his pyreflies spiraled away from her, drawn into Meimo's magic. But looking up, she noticed her two friends had been knocked down as well. She was all alone now, and though her back was to him, she could hear Seymour laughing.

Seymour decided he was quite pleased with this idea of bringing Shuyin to back to life, after all. "Pity. I was looking forward to toying with him a little longer, but your timing couldn't have been worse. Now that your illicit _boyfriend_ belongs to us, perhaps it is a good time to remind you of your _wedding vows_." His humor turned to bitter anger, and he started toward her to finish her off.

With tear-streaked cheeks, Yuna stood. Fists clenched in anger, she began to draw energy from all that remained of the Farplane. "He will _never_ belong to you!" The high summoner threw as much force as she could behind a Holy spell. The non-elemental positive magic tore into the demon's body with force, sending him smashing into one of the rock cliffs under the waterfalls behind them. It was the only real attack spell she had in her white magic sphere, and it nearly drained her completely to use it, so each hit had to count.

Weakened from channeling such powerful magic, Meimo finished his resurrection spell and dropped to his knees. He was unable to defend himself now, but he had successfully prepared a monster that was obligated to fight for him. The smoke cleared away from the new aeon, and a large, golden-scaled water dragon with bold, blue eyes hissed menacingly at her. It had talons on its webbed fins and bore the black Abes mark on its back, distinguishing it as a bullet with Sin's name on it. But as it coiled and recoiled its serpentine body, it stood firm and ready for any land attack. Its long tail slammed the Farplane's floor like thunder as it began to charge with its own unique brand of deadly magic.

Yuna's heart broke. "No. He will never belong to you," she promised, shaking her head and refusing to accept it. Raising her hands, she cast one more Holy spell – a blast that smashed Meimo's drained body into the back of the hull with Seymour.

The sea serpent aeon was promptly banished.

Between the stress of channeling the aeon's creation and the force of Yuna's attack, Meimo was dead. Severely wounded by the previous spells cast at him, Seymour decided it wasn't worth sticking around to bring down his defiant bride just yet. Changing back to spirit form to heal, his soul escaped the Farplane meadow to look for Kyudou.

Weak and alone, Yuna walked to the new stone tomb bearing Shuyin's etched body. The ground shuddered and then rumbled harshly, shaking the walls and ceiling around her. She vaguely acknowledged that the frequent quakes meant that they were nearing the end of the atmosphere spell's cycle, but she fell to her knees and took a moment to let herself grieve.

"Pull yourself together, Yuna," she told herself, though the heat and her weakness were nearly enough to make her swoon. "Paine and Rikku, ... they need you right now. Seymour's still free, and so is Kyudou. We need the key. I can't ... I can't let this ..." Her shoulders shook with sobs for a moment as she tried to put aside her personal sadness for the sake of Spira. But her heart wanted only one thing – the one thing she could no longer have.

Using a summoning prayer, as she had done at each of the temples on her fated pilgrimage, she tried to reach beyond the physical bonds of the tomb to its soul. "Tidus, ... if you hear me ..." In her grief, she couldn't even finish it.

It was enough. Glyphs appeared around the tomb, and the golden wyrm arose from the arcane insignia anyway.

Yuna knew it was with her, but she couldn't bring herself to look at it.

The sea dragon aeon lowered himself beside his new summoner. And resting his chin on her back, he tried to comfort her.

After a long moment of just allowing her tears to flow, Yuna forced herself to stand. She made herself go through the motions that were needed. Moving to Rikku's side, she sniffled and searched her accessory pouches for some phoenix down. When she was sure her cousin was going to be okay, she moved to Paine and gave her a dose of the restorative potion as well. Then, she sank back to her knees, lifeless and wilted, still unable to look upon the newly resurrected creature behind her.

Rikku wiped the sticky sweat from her face, arms, and legs, and looked at the large, golden wyrm that silently watched them. Then, she sadly looked to Yuna as Paine sat up and did the same. They exchanged helpless glances, but then drew close and folded their arms over their friend in a sympathetic hug.

Yuna sniffled as a tear fell from her chin to her knee. "They will _not_ have him," she softly promised again.

Rikku lifted her gaze to the aeon, not sure what to say. "At least he didn't turn into a dark aeon."

"Because Tidus had a living soul, didn't he?" Paine suggested, trying to be helpful in the face of such helplessness. "Maybe that somehow overpowered Shuyin's death during the rebirth, so he's just a regular aeon." Unable to stand the heat of her samurai sphere any more, the warrior switched to her thief sphere instead. This battle was over, ... for a few minutes at least.

"But he's experienced death now," Yuna quietly added. "And he's probably just Shuyin once more."

"Maybe not." A fourth voice among them spoke.

Yuna lifted her chin to see a sad female spirit with a familiar dress and long brown hair standing between their group and the new aeon. "Lenne, ... I ... I tried to stop them," she apologized to her.

"I know." Lunne knelt before her and wrapped spiritual arms around her, though she could do nothing else to ease their shared pain. "I saw the whole thing, but was helpless to stop it, too. If you banish him, though, we can talk to him and see what's happened to his soul."

Not knowing whether "him" referred to Tidus or Shuyin, Yuna shakily stood and dismissed her final aeon back to its tomb. Then, she waited nervously with everyone else to see who would reappear.

Shuyin's spirit rose from his body, and for the second time in such a short time, Yuna felt her heart sink. He looked at the four women as if no words could express what just happened. "I'm okay," he assured Lenne first, as she hurried forward to hug him. "Yuna," he addressed his summoner. "Tidus is still alive in me. Two souls, one body - just like before. He is the one that saved me," he acknowledged Paine's suggestion with a nod. "His soul lived its own independent life."

"But you're both ..." Yuna wiped her eyes. She couldn't say it.

Shuyin looked to Lenne as if asking her advice. Lenne stepped back from him embrace and gestured to Yuna as if there was only one answer. Shuyin approached Yuna, but as he did so, Tidus stepped forward while his primary soul receded. Seeing Tidus in such a transparent form, however, seemed to upset her even more. He could fold his arms around her, but she couldn't touch him or feel him. "Shuyin and I will take care of Seymour. He can't run from us now."

"But ... "

"I'll still be with you, Yuna. Even like this. Always ..."

She shook her head. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. We got rid of Yunalesca so this wouldn't have to happen."

"I know. But at least I didn't disappear into nothing. Don't worry about me while Spira's still in danger." Tidus lifted his chin to Rikku and Paine. "Get the key from Meimo's body and take it to Baralai."

Rikku nodded multiple times and wiped furiously at her eyes to try to stop crying along with Yuna, but then she scurried to Meimo's body to pat him down for their missing valuable items. Finding nothing on her first try, she did it a second time, but she still came up empty other than his magical restoratives. Finally, the small thief stood and faced them with alarm. "They're gone!" The ground rumbled and shook again, leading her to cast a fearful eye toward the ceiling in hopes that it wouldn't collapse.

"Maybe Seymour had it," Paine suggested.

"A spirit can't pick up things like that and carry them around," Lenne disagreed, joining their conversation.

"He lives between the dimensions now. If he can carry a spellbook, he can carry the key."

"If he has the key he might be in the bridge," Tidus suggested.

"And Kyudou wasn't around for any of this," Paine frowned. "They're probably both already in the bridge."

"Yunie! Here! Take some of these!" Rikku rounded up all of Meimo's restoratives and brought them to her. "You look like you used up all your magic trying to keep them from getting Tidus."

"Paine, Rikku, would you stay here and guard my tomb, just in case Seymour returns and tries to summon me?" Tidus asked. "If he does, I won't be able to say no."

They both nodded in agreement.

Tidus looked back to Yuna. "Shuyin wants to talk to Lenne for a moment, but then I'll go see if they've unlocked the bridge already. You need to send Meimo while you still can."

Yuna sadly nodded and let him walk back to Lenne. She watched Shuyin come forward once more as the couple went aside to have a private discussion, then she accepted the restoratives from Rikku and drank them down to the last drop. After a few minutes, Lenne gave Shuyin a hug and nodded that she was okay. Then, Shuyin jogged past all of them and flew straight through the locked portal, past the guards, and into the Heart of the ship.


	24. Chapter 24:  Darkness Falling

Chapter 24: Darkness Falling

When Seymour left the fight, he flew right into the bridge, but materialized only in spirit form for the sake of conserving and rebuilding his energy. There, the dark aeon summoner limped to the captain's chair where he saw the helmet. "Kyudou!"

Kyudou drew his sword and cautiously left the data storage room to see what the trouble was. He was relieved to see Seymour, but bothered by his obviously defeated condition. "What happened?" he demanded, slowly sheathing the sword once he saw there was no threat.

"Yuna and Tidus ..." Seymour snarled their names as if they were curse words.

"Where's Meimo?"

"Dead," he curtly reported.

Kyudou was upset at first, but then consoled himself with the success of their recent endeavors. "You brought me back; we can bring him back, too, once we find him. Did you get Shuyin?"

"No. I told you he was a lot of bother for nothing, and I was right. We should have just come straight to the bridge."

"You didn't get Shuyin's aeon?"

"Meimo wanted Shuyin's aeon, so I let him have it. But he wouldn't stop channeling the spell to defend himself, so he was left vulnerable in the end. I'm quite sure, however, that Yuna has already summoned him into her service, since her beloved _Tidus_ was sucked into the spell with him. That means that _now,_ we have a problem on our hands. _That _Aeon spell was the same one used to create the Final Aeon. It was able to join two souls for more strength - preferably the soul of the summoner and the soul of a guardian. In the end, an ordinary summoner would die from the exertion of trying to channel that much magic, but the guardian would remain. Even if Meimo had lived to see his success, he probably would have died after his first combat summons - which is why I let the fool have his wish. But in this case, there are _two_ guardians, and the summoner is in _no_ threat of going down whatsoever."

Kyudou became outraged. "So, you not only let my partner die, but you handed our best weapon over to the enemy? For someone who thought this would be a piece of cake, you've let it turn into a disaster! We were supposed to be able to control Shuyin the way he controlled us! We were supposed to use him to get rid of that pack of armed guards out there!"

Seymour swiftly crossed the floor to confront his accuser. "If your priorities had been more straight to begin with, then you would have come to this Heart first and worried about driving your stake through Shuyin's heart later. If you want to salvage what's left, then you'll focus on where you are standing right now. I can always summon Shuyin later once we are closer to Earth, but now I have to destroy Yuna first. She is capable of multiple summonings and will guard that aeon jealously now that Tidus is a part of it."

Kyudou snorted and quirked a brow. "I sympathize with you, but to go after Yuna before securing our hold on the ship sounds like you're letting a personal grudge take priority."

Seymour's eyes narrowed on his remaining partner, but he remained calm as usual. "You dare accuse me of having a personal agenda in this, when it was your obsession with revenge on Shuyin that screwed up everything? Tell me, exactly how does it feel knowing that without Meimo, you can never summon Shuyin's aeon on your own? All that effort for something absolutely beyond your reach without my help." The summoner's spirit allowed himself a chuckle of satisfaction seeing how that realization hit Kyudou with a bitter sting.

When the initial sting passed, Kyudou ignored the taunt walked to the holographic map that was displaying their progress. "Because we were able to use the tracker, the ship is finding its own trail of breadcrumbs back to Earth using wormholes. However, its vital life functions should fail soon. I will hold out here, but you must get Shuyin's aeon back before New Yevon's forces figure out what we're doing."

Shuyin had been listening just inside the locked doorway of the bridge, but on that cue, he stepped through it and met them with a dark expression. "If you want a piece of my aeon, you'll have to come and take it."

Kyudou's stormy gray eyes narrowed on the antagonistic spirit. "Don't tempt me."

"You know, you've got a whacked out sense of justice doing something this extreme just to get back at me."

"And if you could see past your own ego, you'd realize this isn't just about you."

"Is that a reference to Earth? It's been thousands of years. You're punishing people that had nothing to do with your misfortune. And you're killing innocent people on our side of the battle line as well."

"Sometimes sacrifices are necessary to achieve a greater good. We want what's rightfully ours - justice and a safe place to live. Besides, you're a fine one to accuse me of holding grudges and killing innocent people. It's a shame we couldn't introduce Earth to Vegnagun first, hm?"

Shuyin's glower darkened even more. "What I did was wrong. And I won't let anyone repeat my mistakes if I can help it."

"Oh, please," Seymour droned. "Your heroics are just as cliche as Koji's. Even as an aeon, there's nothing you can do to stop us, so you might as well go cry to Yuna, … until I call you back."

Tidus stepped forward from the aeon's dual-natured spirit. "You know, I would love to kick your ass _again,_ but Gippal's machina are getting ready to blow Baaj to the moon, so he'll probably beat me to it this time. If the first aeons are any indication of the results, you'll be at the bottom of the ocean gathering seaweed for the rest of eternity. Destroy the tomb; destroy the aeon. Oh, and that little puddle of anti-magic that you destroyed Spira's soul with? Gippal found a good use for it."

Seymour's brows dipped angrily at the threat, but he was cautious of calling Tidus's bluff. He saw Kyudou look to him with unspoken alarm. Then, he thrust his vein-covered face into Tidus's and glared at him with his ice-blue eyes as if he could cut him down with a look. "I'll deal with you later," he promised. Then, he changed back into a circle of light and fled back through the streams of magic toward Baaj.

))((

Tidus gave Kyudou a curt smirk at how well that spooked the almighty dark aeon. Then, his spirit flew back to the Abyss. "Yuna! Seymour's headed to Baaj! You gotta follow him there, and then you gotta make me real!"

"If Seymour's worried about saving Baaj, then he's not coming to the tomb," Paine surmised, looking to Rikku and Yuna. "That means he's not with Kyudou." They could use this split to their advantage.

"Yunie, you and Tidus go take care of Seymour. We'll take care of Kyudou!" Rikku read the warrior's mind.

Yuna nodded in agreement with the new plan and ran to the portal. She took one look back at Tidus, feeling strange about leaving him behind like that. But as he allowed himself to fade away for a brief rest, she went ahead and teleported out.

))((

Rikku and Paine ran to the portal, but were frustrated to find it sealed shut. The small thief banged a fist against it and started looking for a place to pry it open, but it was no use. When she finally stopped trying and wiped the sweat from her brow, another big rumble shook the entire ship. "Woaoaoah! It's getting worse! I think I'm going to be fried and scrambled like an egg before we get out of here!" she complained as she was shaken off-balance and fell to her knees.

"Lenne, could you tell the guards on the other side of this door what's happened?" Paine asked, bracing herself against the portal. "Maybe there's something they can do."

Lenne nodded in agreement and disappeared through the closed portal to appear before the armed warrior monks and former crusaders of the Youth League to deliver her message. The soldiers immediately recognized their fault in allowing the warrior from the fiasco in the Abyss to pass through. After quickly updating Baralai on the situation, they ran toward the bridge to find him again.

))((

On board the Celsius once more, Yuna updated the crew on what was happened, shocking them with the news that Tidus was now her aeon. Oddly enough, not even Brother seemed happy to hear it.

When they arrived at Baaj, she could see Seymour's aeon waiting on the ruins above the water's surface, ready to defend his tomb. "Hold her steady!" Yuna requested of Brother before she ran up to the deck of the airship and summoned her wand. She had to fight the wind to keep her balance, but it felt good to have air circulating around her, even if the air was unusually warm. Though it killed a part of her to acknowledge what she was doing, she drew the lacy, colored magic required to pull pyreflies together for him. The golden sea dragon snaked his way from a stream of energy down through the glyphs straight toward her, but as he solidified, he shot past her like a weighted ribbon diving into the ocean.

))((

After plunging into the dark water, Shuyin swam like a golden bullet straight for the stone surface where he had seen Seymour's aeon standing. Then, he raced back to the surface and leaped out of the water in an arc over him. Seymour had cast a couple of defensive spells on himself seeing the summoning take place in the sky, and he was preparing to cast some thunder spells toward the airship. But the whip-like action of the large sea dragon still took him by surprise, knocking him into the water and crumbling the stone beam on which he stood, as it splashed back down.

Under the water, Seymour gathered energy and cast an Ultima attack in retaliation, sending waves of raw negative energy through Shuyin's body. The wyrm took the hit hard, but this aeon was unlike any other – two guardians. Shuyin twisted around and cast his notorious possession spell on Seymour, escaping into the former maester's mind. Meanwhile, Tidus shimmered with healing magic and sustained the living water dragon form.

Seymour struggled against Shuyin's will, but the ancient guardian knew he absolutely had to get that magic book into Yuna's hands. It would be safe nowhere else. He forced Seymour to swim to one of the ruins, climb out of the water, and place the magic book in a visible, reachable spot. Then, he dove back into the water and swam straight for Tidus, putting himself in direct line of fire.

Still in sea dragon form, Tidus was charging with magical energy for an attack. When the spell erupted, it was in the form of shock waves that rippled through the water, making it rise in a circular wall around Seymour. The demonic aeon had seconds to realize he was in the center bowl-shaped tsunami before the water magic crashed down on him with enough force that it knocked him all the way down to the ocean floor.

Shuyin's hold on Seymour's mind was weakened from the force of Tidus's attack, so he had no choice but to release Seymour and fade back into the plane of magic to heal.

Free once more, Seymour struggled to stay alert and swim for his temple. Not done with this encounter yet, Tidus swam after him.

))((

About that time, Gippal's air crew arrived on the scene with their anti-magic laced explosives. Buddy received a call on the com sphere. "Please tell us none of your people are down there. We've got enough punch here to level the entire temple."

"Brother, go check on Yuna," Buddy urged.

Brother jumped out of his seat and ran down the hall to take the lift to the deck. "Yuna! Come back inside. They are ready to explode it!" he called to her.

))((

Up on the deck, Yuna was fretting because she couldn't see her aeon any more. She looked at the other airship carrying the explosives and reminded herself that Tidus walked two dimensions now and his tomb was elsewhere. No matter what happened to the sea serpent, his spirit would be okay. "Lower me to the ruins before they drop the explosives! I've got to get the book!" she called to Brother.

Breathless from his run to reach her, Brother paused to catch his breath, then turned around and ran took the lift back down to the bridge.

A few seconds later, Yuna heard Brother's voice over the com-sphere. "Hold off! Yuna needs to recover something first! Do not fire on the ruins yet, or I come over there and smack you around like a cold fish!" he yelled at Gippal's pilots.

Yuna took the lift down to the engine room and unlocked the hatch. Carefully scooting down the ramp as it opened, she dropped and ran to pick up the spell book her aeon had left for her. The airship's strong winds churned her brown hair into her face with a sting, but she tried once more to see her aeon through the murky depths. She still saw nothing. Worried, but helpless to help him further, the summoner hurried back up to safety.

Taking the left back to the bridge, Yuna ran back to the waiting Gullwings crew. Breathless, she showed them the book in her possession and nodded.

))((

The sea dragon was large enough that he filled the interior space within the ruins, but slender enough that his serpentine body could still slither through the narrow passageways. When he finally found the dark aeon, Seymour was re-charged and ready for battle. His first attack was an attempt to petrify the blitzball player, but unlike in previous battles, Tidus's aeon form was immune to it. Seymour's second attack, however, suffered no such nullification. The flare spell hit the sea serpent's body smashing him backwards into the wall, applying crushing non-elemental force on all the aeon's internal organs.

Broken and bleeding from the powerful attack, the sea dragon snapped forward and used his head to ram Seymour back against one of the stone columns in the ruins. The column broke in half from the stress and it, as well as part of the ceiling, crumbled heavily on top of them.

Having used his strongest magic first, Seymour's aeon shook off the debris, healed himself, and quickly cast two powerful fire and lightning spells back at the other aeon.

The sea dragon whipped its tail into the other aeon, throwing it into the wall with enough force to split it down to the foundations. Then it went to the tomb in the floor that bound Seymour's soul to his aeon form and raked its talons across the surface, trying to dig it up. Seymour roared at Tidus's effort to destroy his seal and cast an ice spell at him. Now missing scales and suffering blistered skin beneath the exposed areas, the serpent twisted and sank its teeth into Seymour's aeon. Using his talons to prevent his escape, Tidus was about to crunch down on his opponent when a blast ripped through the water slinging them both back against the crumbling confines of the ruins. Seymour's tomb split down the middle, and the entire temple caved in on top of it.

))((

"Cid! Back us up, just in case the anti-magic bomb didn't work!" came the message on the com-sphere from Gippal's pilots.

On Cid's cue, the Celsius cannons delivered a final punishing blow to the remainder of the Baaj ruins.

After a few minutes, when the last visible signs of the ancient temple sank to a watery grave and the violent wake crashed down claiming it as its own, everyone on the Celsius watched in open-mouthed silence to see if their attack had succeeded. No one cheered at their supposed victory because neither aeon emerged from the sunken rubble.

"I can't stand it anymore. I've got to see if he's okay." Yuna ran out of the bridge to the teleport sphere and returned to the Abyss.

When she arrived, she found Lenne's spirit pacing nervously in front of Rikku and Paine as they sat waiting for news.

"Baaj was a direct hit," Yuna informed them. "Seymour's tomb couldn't have survived. He's lost his grip on Spira, and hopefully he's gone for good now."

"And … Shu?" Lenne asked with worry.

Yuna sadly shook her head. "I don't know yet. I was hoping you'd heard from him."

Lenne sadly shook her head.

))((

"That leaves only Kyudou, and he has no allies." Paine jumped to her feet. "We can take care of him while you check on Tidus and Shuyin," she told the summoner as she ran through the open portal, squeezing and elbowing her way to the front of the guards gathered at the bridge trying to force the doors open.

Rikku followed close on her heels. "Step aside, boys! Lock pick – er, expert - coming through!" Wiping the sweaty hair from her face again, she pulled a few probes from her tool belt and set to work on the intricate door.

Paine readied herself behind her by switching to her warrior sphere. As soon as Rikku had the mechanism sprung and pushed the doors open with a grunt, the warrior rushed past her and sought their last mutineer.

Kyudou chuckled to himself and drew his sword as soon as he saw her, but he chose to ignore the multiple guns that lined up behind her, blocking any escape through the door. "Ah, we meet again. You must have really enjoyed our last match since you seem so eager for another one. By the way, killing me won't help you now. If you've destroyed Seymour, the ship's life support systems will come to a complete stop very shortly. I was going to allow some people to join me in the safety of the bridge, but Seymour was suppose to provide that safety. Thanks to you, now everyone on board will die, unless you continue my plan to return to Earth. Only the people of planet Earth will be able to help you repair Spira."

Paine strode forward to confront him with a dangerous look in her crimson eyes. "You sacrificed an entire world to punish another world for crimes their _ancestors_ committed. You sacrificed _everyone_ so you could get back at Shuyin, when _you're_ the one that initiated Shuyin's actions against you in the first place. You're _despicable_. You're not even worth the fight." The warrior sheathed her blade and turned around to allow the gunmen to have him.

"Fire at me, and you will hit the navigation system. That tracking sphere remaining operational is the only hope you have left. Meanwhile, how about I show you my true fiend form." Kyudou's body shifted and transformed sprouting extra arms and legs, bloating and growing short body hair and multiple-faceted eyes. He was changing into a boris spider. A strand of sticky webbing shot out to capture Paine's back and reel her in.

All of the guns raised in response.

"Don't shoot! No, no!" Rikku begged and ran in front of the warrior monks. "You'll take down both of them and the ship!"

Paine spun and sliced with an upward stroke, severing the webbing that held her, then she slashed down again with one step forward, slashing into the giant spider's head. A sick sound issued from the spider in response to the hit, but then pyreflies broke away and faded, revealing the true nature of Kyudou's resurrection. Two strokes, ... one dead demon.

))((

Yuna hesitantly approached the stone tomb in the Farplane's failing meadow, afraid to find out the truth of what happened beneath Baaj. "Hello? Are you still here?"

Lenne joined her, waiting just as anxiously.

Tidus appeared first this time. "Our tomb is safe. Both of us are still here."

Yuna rushed forward to embrace him, but her arms passed right through his body. She was on the verge of tears once more.

He started to hug her in attempt to comfort her, but then realized the futility of such a thing and lowered his arms to his side. "You know what you have to do now that Seymour's gone."

Yuna looked down at the large book of magic folded safely in her arms and gave a solemn nod. "I'll go see Koji."

"Koji?" Lenne looked to Yuna with surprise. "I once knew someone named Koji."

"Yes." Yuna explained how they knew him and what he volunteered to do to save Spira.

When her explanation was done, Lenne lowered her sad gaze to the wilting meadow that was blowing away beneath her like dandelion seeds on the wind. "Koji was like a brother to Shuyin, and he was … a special friend to me, as well. Tell him ... I'm so sorry for hurting him. Tell him we miss him, and wish he could come home. But … if this is his choice ..."

"I know." Yuna quietly sympathized.

Tidus's spirit shifted into Shuyin. "I never got to tell him … goodbye." He had to choke back his emotion. "Would you also tell him how sorry I am that things ended the way they did? And I'm proud of him. Tell him … he deserves the strawberry candy."

"Strawberry candy?" Yuna was confused.

"He'll understand."

Yuna nodded, taking his word for that. "Will you help me get to him? He's in the Via Infinito. I'm afraid it's one of my least favorite places in all of Spira."

"With good reason. I'm ready to go when you are."

Lenne gave Shuyin a sad hug and whispered something in his ear. Then, she faced her. "Good luck. Believe in yourself, and have a good life, Yuna."

"Thank you." Yuna envied them being able to still be together in spite of what had just happened to Shuyin, but she thought it was a strange thing to say. As she walked to the portal to catch up to Paine and Rikku, she couldn't help but wonder if ... Turning to look back at them, she found that they were already gone.

))((

The temple was under heavy attack by fiends when the Gullwings trio arrived out of the depths beneath it. The temple's priests, guards, and warriors were doing their best to fend off the monsters and keep them from spilling out into the streets. Gippal's Machine Faction was under heavy attack trying to help out, but they were losing ground. Yuna searched the faces in the foray and found Gippal among them. He was reloading his ammunition from the anti-magic barrels - a painfully slow task at a time when quick response meant the different between life and death. She, Paine, and Rikku ran to speak with him while they had the chance. "What in the world is happening in here?" Yuna asked, shocked at the fiend chaos. "This is worse than when Shuyin sent out fiends!"

"Something has happened to the negative plane," he answered, sounding weary. "Everything in there just started pouring out, and no matter how many we kill off, more keep coming. Did Tidus find you?"

Yuna sadly nodded. "I'll explain later. Right now, I need to get down in there as quickly as possible."

"The Via Infinito?" Gippal looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "Don't you see what's being vomited up from down there?"

"Those fiends are more interested in coming out than going back in. And I have help." Yuna drew her wand, and once more she swirled the glyphs that summoned her serpentine dragon to her side.

"Woah! Where'd that come from!" Gippal backed up defensively, but then as he looked into its eyes, ... he knew. "Tidus?"

Paine realized Gippal's efforts were being stretched to their limits, and she had every confidence that the new aeon was enough to help Yuna make her way to Koji. "Rikku and I should stay up here and help get this situation under control." She looked to Rikku for confirmation and the thief nodded.

"Oh, but could you do me a favor?" Rikku leaned to Yuna's ear and whispered a message.

Yuna smiled and nodded. "I'll tell him. Hang in there, ... and wish me luck!"

Gippal was speechless as the long, thin dragon snaked its way straight into combat, slapping fiends out of the way with its tail and jaws, acting as a shield to all attacks so that Yuna and her precious book would make it safely to their destination.

Most of the beasts didn't pay them any mind. They were more interested in escaping their confinement than attacking anyone that came in. So, once they were inside, their battles actually decreased. Yuna ran down the corridors behind her aeon-shield. "Koji! Koji!" she cried out, hoping she wouldn't have to go far in her search for him.

Koji heard his name and swooshed through the maze to find her. Then, he stopped ahead of them and materialized as a thin spirit, halting their run. "I was afraid you weren't going to come. Things are really bad. We need to hurry and do this."

Now that she was here, however, Yuna felt uncertain once more. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Yuna, ... please try. None of this would have happened if I hadn't aided their plan. I need to put it right."

Yuna remembered her messages. "Lenne and Shuyin, ... they loved you, Koji. They said they were proud of you, and they wished you could come home. Shuyin also said you deserved a strawberry candy. He said you'd understand what that meant."

Koji smiled and nearly became emotional hearing the greeting from his old friend. "The first time that Shu and I met was at swim lessons when we were little. He was really scared and cried a lot, but his dad ... Well, you knew his dad, right? He threw him in the water anyway."

Yuna smiled lightly at the memory of Sir Jecht's brusque mannerisms. "I know it was hard for Tidus growing up in his father's shadow. I'm sure the same was true for Shuyin."

"My sister Kaila gave Shu a piece of strawberry candy to make him feel better. She always gave both of us candy after our games. I used to want the strawberry ones, but she always gave them to him. I figured out later it was because she had a crush on him." He chuckled a little to himself. "Some things are just out of our control like that. Kyudou wanted to see Shuyin suffer, but I think he's suffered enough with everything he had to go through. I'd like to see him again ... someday."

The aeon stepped forward and nudged him.

"Koji, ... " Yuna softly explained. "We were too late to stop them from turning Shuyin into an aeon."

Koji looked to the dragon, stunned and saddened. "Shu? Wow." Moisture formed in his eyes, but he sniffled it away. "You've looked better, dude."

The aeon gave an unhappy snort at the comment.

Koji couldn't help but laugh a little. He could imagine Shuyin would have said if he could talk. "You know where to find me when all of this settles down."

"Oh, and ... Rikku said to tell 'Kojikoji' ... thank you. She's glad she had the chance to meet you."

He smiled and gave a small bow to her acknowledgment, but he could tell she was delaying. "Yuna, ... we really need to do this."

Yuna nodded with reluctance. "I know." With dread, she opened the spell book to look through the index. The old, delicate pages were damaged with water now, but still mostly legible. When she found the spell she wanted and skimmed through it, she became very intimidated by what she needed to do. "Koji, did Meimo do this whole spell by himself? It's extremely strong magic."

"Seymour did half the spell for him, so that he wouldn't drain himself to death. I'm sorry, Yuna. I know what this means for you, too. I wish there was another way."

Yuna would do whatever it took to save Spira. She had put herself in that position once before. But after giving it some thought, she wondered if this was another case where doing something different might be better than doing what's expected. "I think I have an idea that might work."

As her aeon kept watch behind her, Yuna spent the next hour alternating between casting the various rites of the spell and drinking the restorative potions that Rikku confiscated for her from Meimo. Fortunately, he had bought a lot in preparation for their plans of mutiny. She was incredibly hot and sweaty in the closed, rumbling quarters, but everything seemed to be going well, until after she summoned the elementals and the liches. Then, the light disappeared completely and the inner hum of the ship that could be heard all over Under Bevelle and the Farplane abruptly became silent. All was pitch black except for the glowing magic she had conjured. "Oh no! What's happened! We must have passed into the darkness spell phase. We're out of time!"

"Hurry Yuna! You have to finish!" Koji pleaded with her.

Yuna heard the water dragon growl low behind her to let her know that he was still with her, and she felt him back up to sit closer to her in the darkness. Fearful that once again they were too late, she drank the last of her restorative, and braced herself to receive and transfer Koji's life energy. She reminded herself that she was the High Summoner. She was the most powerful living summoner on Spira right now. Everyone was depending on her to make this effort - _everyone_. "Koji! Come forth!"

Koji's magical rebirth followed the same sequence as Seymour's, but Yuna crumple to the floor before she was able to see the final creation. As the smoke cleared, Koji rose to look at the summoner who had risked her life to give him back his, in spite of its dark nature. He knelt to pick her up in his arms and gently placed her on the back of her golden dragon.

Yuna opened her eyes to see that Koji's dark aeon form glowed with an deep purple aura of magic. He looked just like his human self, except that his lips, nails, hair and armored body were now as black as coal, his eyes glowed with purple fire, and two pairs of glistening raven-like wings spread from behind his shoulders.

"Take her out of this place where she will be safe," he spoke in the borrowed voices of the dead, as his predecessors Seymour and Spira had done before him. "Tell her 'thank you' for giving me a better reason to live. I will bring things back under control as quickly as I can." Then, Koji reached deep within himself, and his body faded into a singular swirling light. First, he had to take care of his friends and seal the negative plane once more. Then, he had to figure out what else was necessary to save Spira.

Yuna sighed with exhaustion in the sticky heat as she lay stomach-down along the dragon's back. Her fingertips absently stroked the golden scales that used to be silken hair, but then she closed her eyes and trusted him to follow the single light out of the darkness. By the time they returned to the main lobby, the flow of fiends had stopped, and the last of the battles against them ended; but the dragon had to cross a lot of fallen bodies and quake debris to reach their friends.

"Oh my gosh! Yunie!" Battle-worn and weary, Rikku ran to her. "Are you okay?"

"Koji's aeon ..." Yuna's voice was weak. "He's like some kind of fallen angel. I think we'll be okay now. Is everyone okay out here?"

Gippal sat down in exhaustion and nodded, just as Baralai came through the doors with his guards, council, and several lanterns. The praetor couldn't see much under these dark conditions, but what he could see had him staring in shock at the havoc his temple had endured in his absence. "I came as soon as I could. Power is out in Luca and Bevelle, so I assume it's out everywhere else, too." He took note of Gippal's machina lights and was glad for once that he had the annoying things around.

Yuna slowly pushed herself into a seated position on the aeon's back. "Koji was successfully transformed into the Via Infinito. That there are no more fiends pouring out of there, seems to be proof that he was true to his word now."

Baralai blinked at the water dragon for a moment, surprised at its unexpected appearance, but not concerned. "I got word that Seymour, Meimo, and Kyudou have all been destroyed. That leaves only one problem unsolved - Earth." Baralai shook his weary head and rubbed his tired, bloodshot eyes. "I'm so sleep deprived I can't think straight anymore, though. I think it's time for some backup. I'll give Shinra and Nooj a call. This running a ship business is more up their line of expertise anyway." He looked to Gippal. "I'll give them our plans and let them figure out what the next step should be. They can monitor our progress while we get some rest. I think ... it's safe to rest now."

Gippal sighed heavily and stood to collect his personal things. "That's my cue, then. I'm outta here. There's nothing more we can do now anyway with everything dead and dark. Hopefully, Koji can get things going again by morning. Have them give me a call if they need me, though. Good night everyone." A small growl alerted him to the fact that maybe one more fiend was still loose. Swerving to locate the source, he hooked his gun into position to blast it.

Rikku smiled in embarrassment. "Sorry! Sorry. That was my stomach. Haven't eaten since breakfast."

Gippal lowered his gun and snorted in amusement at his own paranoia as he walked out of the temple. It was much cooler outside now - refreshingly so. The sweat on his skin cooled to a chill. But an ominous black fog had settled over the city making it difficult to see anything. Frightened of the news they were receiving from local patrols and Baralai's broadcasts, most people were more than willing to follow his advice and stay in their homes. Though the streets of Bevelle were deserted, finding his way home in this wasn't going to be easy.

))((

The spire at the top of the world spun off-center with the same black energy, cloaking all of Spira in total darkness. Then, the weather spell ceased to be.


	25. Chapter 25:  Out of Darkness, Earthrise

Chapter 25: Out of Darkness, Earthrise

The next morning, the smell of breakfast cooking made Yuna hungry enough to wake, but when she opened her eyes and sat up, the cabin was still dark as night, but the glow of light from Barkeep's kitchen below meant that electricity was still flowing within the self-contained airship. The Celsius had returned safely to Besaid's shore before the darkness spell fell the night before, and the magic of the teleporting spheres still worked to get everyone safely home to their beds. Gravity operations began to lessen causing some disturbing weightlessness, but it didn't last long before Koji brought it back under control. Anything that didn't operate on its own generator or magic, however, was useless and dead.

Rising to her knees in her bed, Yuna looked out the window above her to meet an amazing site. The sky was gone. Instead, there was a rich, black void full of shimmering points of light, and centered over the horizon beyond the sea was a very large blue-green planet with tremendous, white cloud swirls. Yuna jumped off of the bed and ran down the stairs to see that everyone else was already awake and seated at the bar. "What happened to the sky? Is that Earth? Are we already here? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Rikku winced lightly. "You really looked like you needed your sleep. Actually, we all slept in today because it was so dark. It's later than you think if you look at the clock."

"Shinra and Nooj left a message that they were trying to get information on everything that happened overnight," Buddy told her. "They said that Koji seemed to have all the back-up life support systems running. The Farplane and ship are no longer in immediate danger. But they said they would be calling you later today about something important."

"I'm done eating, darling. You can have my seat." Cid stood and passed his plate back to Barkeep and stood. "You should go outside and have a look, Yuna. It's a real hoot." He chuckled to himself as he left for the bridge.

More curious than hungry, Yuna hurried back up the stairs, grabbed her robe, and slipped it on over her camisole and shorts. Then, she headed outdoors. Still barefoot, she walked out of the hatch like she was walking into the Farplane for the first time - walking into the surreal. Seagulls flew overhead and palms swayed gently in the cool breeze. The ocean tide soothingly rolled over itself onto the white sands. Paine was even out running through her morning training routines. But there was no sky, and the mysterious planet of their origins loomed larger than life beyond the sea. Time on Spira, for now, would be marked as an endless night with an Earthrise. "The dome ..." She lifted her eyes upward, able to see for the first time the machina forming the bubble-like bio-sphere structure high overhead.

When Paine saw her, she walked to her side and stopped to stare at the incredibly close planet with her. Neither of them said a word for a long moment, and then Paine shifted her attention to Yuna, able to read her friend's lost expression. "You're thinking he should be here to see this."

Yuna pulled the lapels of her robe closer. "He always did love gazing at the stars."

"Then ask him to come out and see it. He may look different now, ... but he's still the same person underneath," Paine softly advised before she walked back to the airship.

Yuna didn't want to see him like that again. It hurt too much. Yet she knew he would want to see this. She had to stop thinking of him as an aeon, and try hard to keep thinking of him as Tidus. Summoning her staff, she danced on the beach facing the rising planet and wove her magical glyphs in the air to thin the veil between the material and spiritual dimensions. And when her aeon answered her call, he was as amazed as she thought he would be, looking out over Spira's strange new horizon. "Wait here. I'll be right back," she told him.

The summoner ran back inside, dressed quickly, grabbed the recovered magical documents, and loaded a plate with breakfast leftovers from Barkeep's bar. When she returned, she found the large sea serpent settled in the sand where the tide flowed in around him before being drawn back out to sea. Studying the stars overhead and the swirls in the planet's clouds, he seemed lost in wonder. "Barkeep's Special Dragon Plate," Yuna announced as she set it down before him. "Just remember this the next time 'Tisu wants your food."

The golden aeon snorted and began enjoying his surprise meal.

Using her black magic sphere, she tested her ability to use elemental magic and was able to make a bonfire. Then, she settled in the sand next to him, far enough back that the water wouldn't damage her magic documents, and spent the morning leaning against his back while exploring the knowledge hidden in the ancient treasures. They watched Yevon's spheres together, which included Spira's recordings of the commissioning of the bio-dome ship, troubles between various Earth nations, some hefty natural disasters, and finally an alien attack. She sympathized considering what they had been through in the last couple of days - last thousand years, actually - in terms of global disasters. Then, she began reading her way through one of the books, as well as looking over more spells in Maedra's arcane collection, by firelight. "If only Maedra himself were here to do some of these," she sadly lamented.

"Woaaaaahohohoh!" Wakka's voice could be heard in the distance as he approached the beach for a full view of the planet beyond the sea, but then he caught sight of the aeon. "Hey, Yuna! What the heck is that?"

Yuna smiled to herself and turned around to see him coming with Lulu and Vidina. She was surprised to see them with Arantisu. "Are you referring to the planet, or the aeon?"

"Ehh, both?" He scratched his head in curiosity and cautiously moved to stand in front of the dragon, which impatiently thumped its tail, waiting for the satirical insult that was bound to happen. "Oh my ... _gah_! It's _you_! What are you doing looking like that! Hey, ... looks like you finally sprouted some whiskers on that chin of yours, ya?" Wakka chuckled.

The sea dragon unhappily swooped its tail around the blitzball captain's ankles and knocked his feet out from under him. Wakka landed on his rear in the sand. But when the aeon made a noise that sounded almost like a snicker, the big man sat up with a wince and made a face at him.

"Yuna! Tidus! You're back! You're back!" Arantisu followed the sounds and reached out to them.

Yuna gave the blind child a sad smile and reached for her hand, though there was nothing to hold onto. "'Tisu, Tidus is a little different now. He's ... more like you. Only bigger and longer. And his scales are bright yellow like the sun. He doesn't have wings like you do, but he's still a very good swimmer."

The child was puzzled. "He's a dragon?"

"He's an aeon." Yuna lifted her gaze to Wakka and Lulu whose expressions changed to sad astonishment.

"For real?" Wakka couldn't believe it. "For always? You're kidding, right?"

"I wish ... I was." Yuna explained the entire mess with Seymour, Kyudou, and Meimo, and how their attempt to resurrect Shuyin drew the pieces of his soul back together. "And I don't know how to reverse it, ... other than sending him," she sadly admitted. "He can be with us like this, but if you want to talk to him, you'll need to go to the Farplane. That's where his tomb … is."

"Aw, nuts," Arantisu frowned as she sat down in the sand to pout. "Just when I come here, Tidus goes there."

The water dragon gazed at the disappointment on the girl's face, even though she couldn't see him. Yuna realized Tidus had never seen the child in her true spirit form. Pushing his long serpentine body to stand, he waded into the water, then turned and looked back, ... waiting.

Yuna smiled and nodded at his unspoken request. "Tisu, would you like to swim with him?"

"Yes, please!" the ghost child scrambled to her feet.

"Stay close to him, and if anything attacks, let him handle it, okay?"

"Okay!"

Yuna did her summoning dance to call Arantisu into physical form. Then, the little white dragon romped into the water after the large golden one. "I think 'Tisu's just gained a big brother," she commented with a smile that faded as soon as she sat back down to watch them swim into the deeper waves. "This is killing me. How can he be so positive, in spite of what's happened to him?"

))((

Late that afternoon, Nooj and Shinra invited Yuna to a meeting so they could explain what they had been doing toward recovery. Yuna banished Tidus's aeon form on the beach to enable him to speak in spirit form with them for the meeting in the Farplane. She was surprised, therefore, to find Shuyin waiting for her at their tomb, instead.

"Thank you," she told him. Thank you wasn't really enough, but it would have to do since there were no better words for what he had done to help save Spira. "I'm looking for a way to undo this, you know."

"You could always just send me," he mildly joked.

Yuna saddened.

"But I know you don't want that for Tidus," he added in a more sober tone, realizing it was too soon after her loss to speak so freely about it, even if he was talking about a part of himself. "For most spirits, being in the Farplane is like sleeping in a fishbowl. Our souls can exist forever in here, and we can see what's going on around us if we want to. We just can't touch it or interfere. But for him, being in this place of the dead is the equivalent of wasting away to nothing. He was fading when I first met him. To manipulate pyreflies with memories of who he used to be, to interact with other souls inside or beyond the glass, to even remember who he was - these things were much more difficult for him. I guess it's because he was never really born. But his being a dream, ... that's what protected me from being brought back as a demon. He may be nothing more than a bunch of incredibly handsome pyreflies, but … his life was stronger than my death, you know?"

Yuna smiled and wiped away a tear. That sounded like something Tidus would say.

"And yet, ... without being real, the only thing keeping him from fading again is this seal."

She nodded in understanding of how fragile Tidus's existence was now in the Farplane. "It sounds like he was fortunate to come back for the short time that he did."

"He was." Shuyin cast his gaze to his own tomb, and then looked about the wilted Farplane. The falls were flowing with mist once more. The amount of light within was normal. The surreal sky was clear again. But the flowers were half gone and now the pyreflies were strange - rising and falling like glowing snowflakes rather than swirling around as if still alive. The Farplane was forever different now. "Most of the souls that were in this place, ... they're gone now," he told her. "Many of them were drawn away as if they were nothing more than dreams, … just like him. Those that remain are more energy than memory now. They've lost who they used to be."

Yuna could read the sadness in his deep blue eyes as they met hers again. "Lenne?"

He gave a soft nod. "Bahamut, too. Koji's sister Kaila, … my mom, … my old man, … It they're behind another wall in a different stage of existence, then, it not so transparent as this one. I can't feel them anymore. I think I'm alone now, except for Tidus. The seal anchored us here, … protected us from being drawn away like the others."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'll miss them, too." After a quiet moment, she lifted her gaze to the rising and falling sparkles of light and held out her hand to catch one, but it melted away at her touch. "Maybe ... they've just been reborn … in some way. The whole point of the Farplane was to enable Spira to keep its life energy. We lost a lot of our ship's magic, and Koji's probably having to use what's left to make up the difference, just to put things right again. But I'm sure we haven't lost them completely. She's still here in this energy flow."

Shuyin knew that Yuna's words were based more on hope and theory than absolute knowledge, but he was glad for her perspective all the same. It was nice to think that Lenne was still here, sharing her life in a different way now. "Then, someday I will find a way to join the energy flow."

Yuna was touched by his dedication. "Shuyin ..."

He smiled lightly and approached her, trying to place his ethereal hands on her solid shoulders. "But, until Spira is absolutely safe, ... until we can find a way back for him, … I will stay with you."

Yuna wiped away another tear and lowered her chin. "It's not right to keep you bound to this place for his sake," she admitted.

"I won't let you lose him," Shuyin promised as he folded her into a hug, then allowed Tidus to replace his spirit form.

Somehow, she could sense the shift in souls. "I miss you," Yuna sniffled as more tears trickled down her cheeks.

Tidus sighed at her sadness. He hated to see her this way, so he tried hard to think of something to cheer her. "This is better than nothing, though, right?" He backed away at arm's length to look at her. "Hey, you know what? You should finish my hut for me. And I want those ocean-colored things from Kilika, if they still have them. You could live in the hut, and I could see it when I visit you there." He paused and leaned forward, hands to his knees, looking up at her. "Unless you ... plan on ... leaving me down here in the middle of nowhere, even though 'Tisu got moved to a luxury spot near the beach."

Yuna sniffled again and looked up, smiling at his attempt to humor her. "I could put your seal next to 'Tisu's in the lagoon," she suggested. "That way, you could come home anytime you want."

"That's right! And 'Tisu can even have my futon. My aeon's too big to fit in it, anyway. She can't have my Dragon Plate Special, though. Sucks to be her on that deal." He grinned.

She laughed lightly and dried her eyes as the New Yevon and Youth League guards entered the area to form a semi circle around the gateway to the other world, ... just in case anything went wrong. Then, Yuna turned around to find that Baralai and Gippal were joining them, looking better rested than the day before. And she was surprised to see that Tromell Guado and Kimahri Ronso stood among them as well.

"Tidus," Tromell Guado greeted him. "We were so sorry to hear of your misfortune, but at the same time, we are so very grateful for your aid. I heard what became of Lord Seymour, and it broke my heart to hear of him being so consumed still. He is truly a tragic case. Thank you for finally allowing his heart to rest."

Tidus quirked a brow at Tromell's take on things, but supposed he was right to some extent. He decided to spare the man his own opinions of Seymour, and simply nodded in acceptance of his gratitude and condolences, instead.

"Ronso will honor Tidus now as before," Kimahri's sad, strong voice rumbled deep within his chest as he greeted his unfortunate friend. "Kimahri would have liked to see Seymour's final defeat," he admitted once Tromell was out of hearing range.

"Yeah, you should have been there to see it, big guy. Of course Gippal's bombs are what finished him off for good, but I hit him pretty hard and held him down before that." Tidus straightened and stretched his arms behind his head with a sigh as he tried to be modest about it. "So now you're wanting to build a statue to honor me like you did Yuna, right?"

Kimahri blinked at him and then looked to Yuna, who covered her mouth with a small giggle. The large ronso faced Tidus again having made a decision. "Ronso not build statue of boy who hit Seymour next to High Summoner who defeated Sin. Ronso just honor him. Statue of Gippal, make sense though."

Gippal, overhearing the conversation, laughed as the blitzball player's expression fell. He would have teased him further about that, but Nooj and Shinra stepped front and center among their little gathering.

"Looks like everyone is here, so I'll start," Nooj addressed them. "First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for their part in helping resolve these multiple crises over the past couple of days. And, ... Tidus, ... we're all sorry about ..."

The blitzball player gave a small nod in acceptance. "I'll live," he answered, hearing his own irony, trying to make everyone feel more at ease about it.

Nooj sighed at his blithe response, but he understood Tidus's half-life situation perhaps better than anyone else gathered there. After a brief glance at his machina hand, he continued. "Shinra and I spent the night gathering damage reports and communicating with the new spirit running the ship. Koji reported that all basic ship functions are running again and the Farplane is once again sealed in both planes. However, extensive damage has been done to the infrastructure, and our magic and fuel supply is now low. After a lot of debate, we decided to limp the rest of the way to the planet Earth and ask for help on repairs. Before things went from bad to worse yesterday, the plans that Gippal and Baralai had researched and laid out revealed that there were several pod-like space vehicles in a loading bay that runs right through the middle of the ship, extending beyond it in a landing dock. It was apparently used for loading and unloading cargo during construction and colonization periods. It's been here all along, but it was hidden behind illusion, much like the invisible bridge. It's been modified, though."

"Modified?" Gippal quirked a brow of doubt.

"Modified by Maedra's magic after his creation of the Farplane in the ship," Shinra answered. "He left his own notes in the related files on the bridge after he helped save the ship for Captain Spira."

Nooj continued. "Spira will live, ... but it's at a lot more risk than before. Evacuation may still be a good idea. We tried to contact the old space base that was 'home' to Spira's creators, but there was no response. We tried several channels, but no one answered. So, we found the landing bay and sent down some watchers to scout the area, and then when we were sure it was safe, we went down to take a look at it ourselves. We want you all to see first-hand what we did." Nooj gestured to Shinra with his machina hand, and Shinra faced the gateway to the other world and lifted an ancient device to point at it. A magical pathway lit up, winding its way to one of the cloudy whirlpools. "Follow me, please. To the left is the landing bay. To the right is our teleport," Nooj informed them, as he led the way, undaunted as ever, along the winding path through the gateway.

"I want to see it, too," Tidus requested of Yuna.

She nodded and did her summoning to bring him to life in his other form. Then, everyone followed Nooj.

At the end of the path, they passed through one more portal and found themselves standing on a high hill overlooking ... ruins. The overcast sky loomed low beyond a flooded city in the distance. The top of a red tower and many broken buildings could be seen jutting above the water. But the hill on which they stood still had grass, small wildflowers, and trees. Birds still flew overhead, and insects could still be heard chirping in the undergrowth.

"The atmosphere is okay compared to what we have on Spira, but it could be better. Something happened to the civilizations that once thrived here. We're just not sure what," Shinra reported and pulled his mask off to breath in the foreign air. "Whatever it was, … it was cataclysmic. It would take us a long time to explore the city ruins and find out exactly what happened, but my data reveals signs of world-wide flooding, crater impacts, and even tectonic plate shifts on a massive scale."

Yuna and her aeon exchanged glances of dismay. Considering the time-capsule-like spheres they had viewed earlier, they wondered which one, if any, of those recorded events was to blame.

Shinra looked down at another device in his hand that monitored readings of the atmosphere. "Most of the cities are already being reclaimed by nature or have sunk beneath the sea. Since no one has responded to our messages, we're assuming there either is no human life left on the planet, or they've gone underground somehow. There are, however, signs of other life on the remaining land masses and in the oceans, … even on this island."

A gentle breeze swept through Yuna's hair and skirt as she stood next to Tidus's silent aeon and gazed at the remains of the civilization that gave birth to theirs. It was disheartening to see it this way when she had so many questions left unanswered. "It looks like Zanarkand ... a little."

Nooj spoke again addressing them all. "We felt it was appropriate that each of you have a say in what we should do next - whether we should try to evacuate here, or look for another planet elsewhere. Now that we have Spira's travel logs working, we also have the option of locating the home worlds of the ronso and the guado ... and all the other species that Spira encountered and added to her bio-dome, against Earth's wishes. My arguments in favor of this place are that we're already here, it seems to be empty, and it seems to have enough sustainable land mass left that we might be able to carve something out of it for ourselves, ... in time."

"How long can Spira hold out?" Baralai asked, staring into the deep waters and wondering what mysteries they held.

"As long as Koji keeps doing what he's doing, a while yet," Shinra answered. "But without more life energy on board, Spira will never be able to recover what it lost. And there's still the matter of repairs. If we don't take the time needed for repairs while we have an environment we can live in, then there's a chance we might not make it to another place. If we choose to stay, we could try to lower the ship back into the atmosphere, and land it in the ocean near here. Then, Koji could try to form some kind of symbiosis with the life forms that already exist here while we work on long-term repairs."

"Symbiosis ..." Yuna considered the recovered documents and spheres, with a startling realization. "Oh my gosh! That's why all that stuff was kept together! That's what she wanted to do!"

Everyone in the group turned to look at her outburst with confusion.

Yuna became excited and explained. "Spira spoke in her journal of hating the Founders so much for what they did to Spira, but she knew that attacking Earth wasn't the answer. I think she wanted to help them. I think Spira was afraid this kind of global disaster might happen. She kept spheres recording several events among her magical notes from Maedra. She kept a book about planets having spirits within. Since Maedra was able to save her ship by creating the Farplane on it, Spira may have been wanting to come back to Earth to do the same thing here."

"But not being familiar with alien magic, and already facing catastrophe on other fronts, they didn't want her brand of help." Nooj nodded in agreement with Yuna's theory. "If Zanarkand was prospering and becoming more powerful while Earth was growing weaker, and she was talking about bringing alien spirits here, I can see how that would seem threatening - especially when you're talking about things like letting the dead continue to exist and creating aeons."

"They tried to seize command of her ship and destroy the magic on it, so she gave her life to keep it operational for as long as necessary," Yuna added.

"And by the time Yevon came along, he was able to convince her to just give up on Earth and run," Baralai finished. The praetor was pensive for a moment as he squinted into the hazy, cloud-covered sun lowering itself toward the watery horizon. Seeing the whole picture now somehow made Spira seem like one gigantic memory sphere with particles of Earth floating in its magical waters. "Do you think her plan would have worked, instilling magic into a planet this big?"

"According to her book," Yuna shared, "real planets have a natural balance, rather than needing someone like Koji to operate the flow. The planet is a collective spirit itself. Maedra's book has a spell for creating a reservoir of life from the energy and knowledge of spirits. I know that it must be the spell he used to create the Farplane - to make those spirits semi-tangible as 'living' energy. I don't think it has to be big, just ... respected. I know I'm not strong enough to do that spell on my own; but if a bunch of summoners worked together, maybe we could create something similar here and bring life back to this place the same way Maedra brought life back to Spira. ... Like she wanted to do herself. And if Koji's going to be trying to connect to Earth's spirits, this could help him help us, as well." Yuna turned her eyes back toward the flooded ruins. "Earth created Spira as a means of preserving its life. Now we've come back to find them gone. So it seems that it's up to us to do what we can to heal the wounded spirits here and re-establish life, if we can."

"Kimahri think ronso could find good home here someday," the large, blue-furred lion-man cast his vote.

"Maedra, father of the guado, would have gladly aided the planet as he had the ship, I'm quite sure. I and my people would consider it an honor to participate in such an endeavor. With ancient guado magic, our new generation could create a Farplane on this planet unlike any other." Tromell smiled at Yuna giving his full support.

Nooj gave a nod. "Then, it's decided. We stay."

"Magic, Farplane, unsent and all ..." Gippal snorted in amusement. "Looks like Captain Spira had the last laugh, if you ask me."

))((

_ (One month later ...)_

Under a bright, blue sky, beneath an array of seagulls and festive balloons, Luca's rowdy stadium quieted its excitement as Nooj the Undying stepped forward to the microphone. "People of Spira, ... The first time we addressed you as a unified group like this, I told you that my friends and I once dreamed of flying. Each of us found new ships and each of us wanted to be a captain. At that time, we had forgotten that we all belong to a much bigger ship - one that we've been riding ever since we were born - Spira."

He paused to let the cheers rise for a moment, and then held up his machina hand and bent his tall frame to the microphone once more. "Citizens of Spira, you now know the secret that has been kept from most of us for over a thousand years."

The crowd responded with disapproving sounds and gestures for a moment.

"We spoke those words without knowing their truth - that our small world is, in fact, a ship. Those of us who stand before you today, as your captains, have worked to discover what we could about those secrets so that we could bring them to you. Unfortunately, disaster struck before we had all the answers. As you all know, we had to make an emergency homecoming call and land our ship in the largest ocean available on planet Earth. Once our creator, then our enemy, Earth now has a new, man-made continent, and its name is Spira."

The crowd responded with more cheers as Nooj stepped back and allowed Gippal to take the lead speaking position.

"We have a sky once more!" He grinned and threw a fist into the air rallying people to cheer at that good news. "But now it's Earth's sky - a real sky with a real sun. We're safe now, as far as we know. And our engineers have all been working real hard to repair the surface damage and help Spira transition to being part of this planet." He clapped along with the crowd in appreciation of everyone's efforts - too many to name. "However, ... the internal damage is not something easily fixed. What we did is this. With the help of all our summoners, we experimented with creating another little Farplane in a place on Earth. The spot chosen was carefully selected by our High Summoner and New Yevon Praetor, so I'm going to let them be the ones to tell you all about it." He grinned at Baralai and winked at Yuna, prompting them to come forward next.

Yuna moved forward and bowed in greeting to the crowd before continuing with the declarations. "The Forest of Memories was inspired by the memory spring in Macalania. It was created to honor all the souls that gave us life, whether it was friends and family we knew and loved, ... or the ancient people whose knowledge and labor contributed to the civilization that we have today." Yuna's soft voice echoed across the stadium as she lifted her eyes just beyond it to the bay. She couldn't see him, but she knew her aeon was out there listening and waiting. "As with the Farplane, it is a special dimension drawn from the plane of magic, where we can retrace our memories and see the faces of our loved ones once more. But also just as before, it is a world apart from us - a place where only spirits can dwell. Unlike the Farplane, however, this spring in this magical forest is directly connected to the life of the planet. It nourishes the spirits of the planet itself, ... to heal it and therefore heal us. We have taken a Spiral of Death, and turned it into a Spiral of Life." She smiled and bowed again at everyone's cheers before stepping back to allow Baralai the final say.

"People of Spira." Baralai looked into the crowd and saw the faces of his friends. "You may now choose whether you wish to stay in our small familiar world, or travel to places far beyond it. The gateway is now open to you, and for your convenience, we have installed new teleporters at each prominent location to take you there. As we gather more information about this planet, we will add it to the library in Zanarkand. We invite you to help us explore this new _old_ world, so that we can learn what happened to it - so that we can continue to learn more about ourselves. We have so much to hope for on the new horizon. So, to all the people who made this possible, and to those of you who have been patient through the disasters and the recovery process, ... we thank you." He backed away from the microphone, and all leaders on the platform bowed low and respectfully to rest of the roaring the stadium.

))((

Outside the stadium at the docks, the golden water dragon in the bay watched his friends' faces on the large screens that once displayed his blitzball games. Since Yuna had been busy with the Forest project, Tidus had spent the past month staying out of her way, occupying his time training Arantisu on the beach in Besaid. He was never alone, though. He had become quite the village attraction, among both the old and young, in his aeon form. His friends still passed by - or through - him daily. After his tomb was relocated to the bottom of the lagoon with Arantisu's, spirit could easily visit to talk with Yuna under the stars on the beach at night. And though he was the only creature of his kind, there were always two souls at conversation within him.

_ "Hey, that's so cool! I didn't know they were modeling it after Macalania's spring. We should go see it now that it's done!"_

_ "I don't know, Tidus. It might do something strange to us."_

_ "Oh, come on, Shu. It's not like we'd actually go IN the water, ... unless it's a hot spring. That might be hard to pass up. Especially if its got those little water jets."_

_ "It's a natural spring. They're not going to put water jets in a natural spring."_

_ "They could put in those little volcanic chimneys, though."_

_ "It's meant to be a memorial for the dead, you idiot. They're not going to turn it into a hot tub, just so you can soak in it."_

_ "Well, if we're dead, then I want to be honored with a hot tub. I might not be able to feel it, but I can remember how to feel it, and it's the thought that counts, right? Like leaving your dad's favorite beer on his tombstone."_

_ "We never left dad's favorite beer on his tombstone."_

_ "I know, but he would have wanted us to. See? And that what counts."_

_ "Wait a minute. That's where Spira's old energy flows now, right?"_

_ "I suppose. But if you're thinking of talking to our old man, I think he'd vote for the hot spring, too."_

_ "Would you just shut up and listen to me for a minute? If it combines the planet's new energy with the souls left in the Farplane to form that symbiosis thing Yuna was talking about one night, then ... maybe now I can tell if Lenne's still here, or if she's lost."_

_ "Um ... "_

_ "It's time."_

_ "Time?"_

_ "Even if she's not there, Spira is stable now. When we spoke to Koji at our last visit, he said he would continue to run the ship's operation until the energy within the planet was strong enough to take over for him, and then he would be leaving, too."_

_ "Too? You're leaving? But, ... what about me? I'm not ready to go yet!"_

_ "You won't have to, you little idiot. Didn't you remember what she once told us? Geeze, you're such a whiner."_

_ "I am not."_

_ "Are too."_

_ "Am not."_

_ "Just shut up, and go."_

The water dragon bowed its long body down into the depths and swam to where the Celsius was docked. It waited patiently for the Gullwings to return from the public announcements, and then rose in an arc over Yuna as she ran to greet it.

Yuna patted the firm scales on his underbelly and smiled up at him. "Well, I guess that's it for here! The gateway to Earth is open for everyone now. They can come and go as they please. And that means it's time for us to go home." She waited for him to lower his head, and then she kissed his jaw. "See you there." With that, she dismissed him back to his tomb, until he could be recalled to her side later.

_ "Goodbye, Yuna. Take care," _Shuyin answered, though she could not hear his thoughts.

After returning to his tomb, relocated beside Arantisu's in the lagoon east of Besaid, Shuyin rose in spirit form and swam through the water to the beach. He ran to the new teleport sphere set up at the narrow passage through the cliffs at the beach's entrance and set his hands on the sphere. To his frustration, however, nothing happened. He turned and looked across the beach. "Kusa! Come here for a minute!"

The boy ran to his side to see what he wanted.

"Make this thing work for me, will ya?" Shuyin stepped half into the boy's body and waited. "Take me to the Farplane."

"Ew! No. There's nothing but dead people there. Hey, you're his brother, aren't you?"

"Kinda sorta yeah." Shuyin impatiently tried to touch the sphere himself, but it had no effect. "Just do it, alright! Before I have Tidus mistake you for a blitzball again."

"Okay, okay ... " The boy touched the teleport and drew the spirit into the Farplane with him.

"Okay, now go home," Shuyin told the boy, as he started to walk away.

"But, how will you come back if I don't stay to take you with me?"

Shuyin stopped and looked over his shoulder, but chose not to answer. As the boy shrugged and set his hands back on the teleporter to return home, the blitzball player's ghost walked toward the gateway and followed the magical path out to the hills of Earth where the Forest of Memories had been created.


	26. Chapter 26:  Mark of the Beast

Chapter 26: Mark of the Beast

Shuyin ran through the tremendously tall, enchanted trees of the Forest of Memories until he came to a still pond surrounded by beautiful sparkling flowers, small misty waterfalls, and flat rock gardens. In this surreal, but natural setting, there was only one fixture - a small, wooden bridge that crossed over the middle of the pond. Following the trail to look over the rail down into the water, he considered his long, long life beyond death, he tried to see his own reflection in its gentle ripples. "One month in the making ... It's time to see if it works. Are you in there?"

A shimmering face appeared in the water - Lenne's face. Yuna was right. The energy of his loved one was eternal and everywhere on this new world now. That was all Shuyin needed to see before he left the bridge and approached the edge of the pond.

_ "Will I ever see you again?"_ Tidus asked.

The spirit waded into the water, up to his knees without so much as making a single ripple. "You know where to find me if you really need me. Just look inside yourself. I've always been there."

_ "Yeah, but I won't be able to argue with you anymore." _

Shuyin gave a small laugh as he continued up to his waist. "New dreams can't begin, until the old ones no longer matter. It's all yours now, little brother. Take care." The spirit dove beneath the surface, where he became aware of the weak, but collective presence of Lenne and many other people he knew from his past. He allowed his memories to flow into the strands of energy that pooled there. As his old soul flickered and faded away, the magic that forced new life into him was immediately absorbed by the newer soul he shared.

With the real spirit gone, the chains that bound Tidus were dissolved. All that remained was the feeling of his body sinking deeper into the planet - a cold, wet suffocation. _"What's happening to me? ... I'm drowning."_

He fought against the feeling and instinctively swam toward the surface. Then, he crawled back up on the embankment. Coughing and sputtering, catching too much water in his lungs for the first time since he was little, he paused to catch his breath and gasp for air. As he coughed some more and water dripped from his nose and hair onto his hands, he realized that not only had sensation returned to them, but they were no longer transparent. Sitting back on his heels, he touched his knees and then his arms. He was alive once more.

Bewildered, but about to burst with excitement, Tidus jumped to his feet and ran back through the pyrefly-laden trees, to the hill, and across the magical bridge that would take him back into the floating, artificial land mass. In the Farplane, when he came to the Abyss, he paused only at the Celsius's teleport sphere to return to the airship.

On the bridge, he ran to the front to look out the large window and see if the airship was back from Luca yet. It had already landed on the beach in Besaid. "Woohoo!"

"Tidus, you are dripping all over my leather seat!" Brother complained behind him.

"I know! Isn't it great! You can fuss at me again about going out with Yuna now!" Tidus grabbed Brother by the suspenders and jerked him forward, giving his cheek a big kiss.

Brother's eyes widened in shock, and he quickly wiped the 'Tidus germs' from his cheek. "Yuck! Phooey! What -!"

"Where is she? Where's Yuna!" Tidus asked of everyone.

Stunned by the weirdness of what he just saw, Buddy cautiously remained on the other side of the room. "She went to the beach to summon you, but -"

"But she can't do it!" Tidus laughed victoriously as if he'd just won another blitzball championship, but then paused in alarm. "No - wait! I'd better check to be sure!" He ran past them back down the hall to the lift.

))((

Cid spoke for all of them. "Kid's gone stark raving mad."

"That never happened! You never saw that!" Brother fussed, still wiping his cheek while making a disgusted face. "I spray him with disinfectant the next time I see his ..." He paused and looked at the other two men, who also just realized what happened. All three of them ran for the lift.

))((

Rikku and Paine waited patiently for the lift in the engine room. They were each holding two ice cream cones they picked up from the food vendor near the docks, but when the doors of the lift opened, Tidus pushed them out of the way and kept running.

"Excuse you!" Paine yelled at his rudeness. "Nearly made me drop Yuna's cone, and he's all wet again. I swear I think he's part fish."

Rikku giggled as they entered the lift. She was going to touch the cabin button, but someone had already called it to the bridge. "Well, at least he smells like the ocean."

Pain's brow lifted. "Are you telling me the ocean _doesn't_ smell like fish?"

The doors opened and Rikku tried to punch in her command to the cabin again, but her brother, father, and friend suddenly slammed into her and squished her against the back wall. "Yaiiiiiii!" she shrieked "Hey! What's the big idea? You made me drop my ice cream!" Rikku pouted at one empty cone as Buddy winced at the frozen ball of chocolate sliding down his back.

Paine held her cones high, trying to avoid the same catastrophe. "What is _with_ you people today?"

"Tidus is back!" Brother told them. When they gave him blank stares, he slapped his own head and tried again. "Tidus is BACK!"

Rikku and Paine exchanged glances realizing they had totally taken for granted that Tidus had _physically_ pushed them aside. As the lift opened into the engine room once more, everyone spilled out to run down the ramp to the beach. They were expecting to see Tidus and Yuna together once more. Instead, all they found was Yuna, twirling a lonely summoning dance.

))((

Tidus had seen her there as well, but went behind the Celsius to dive under the waves and swim to the lagoon. There, he hovered over Shuyin's tomb for a moment to see that the color was gone from his statue, and the seal had cracked. Hardly able to contain himself, he turned and shot back toward the shore. Coming out of the surf behind the airship, he paused to catch his breath - not from shortness, but from excitement. The rest of the crew had gathered curiously at the ship's landing gear, where they grinned and waved at him as soon as they saw him. Grinning to himself, Tidus straightened and walked past them with a finger to his lips before stopping a short distance behind Yuna. He watched her pause with worry when her summoning failed again.

"It's not working," Yuna spoke to herself. "Why isn't it working?" She looked as if her worst fears had been realized since Tidus's aeon wasn't answering her call.

"Why don't you just try whistling instead?" he suggested.

Startled by his unexpected voice, Yuna turned around to see that he was already here - human, solid, and alive.

"Shuyin said it was time," he explained. "He went into the stream in the Forest of Memories, so he could be with Lenne."

Yuna stared at him in disbelief. "He's … gone?"

"Without him, the spell binding our spirits to the tomb fell apart. Our aeon can't be summoned any more. But since I was never really born, … I think, somehow, the resurrection spell transferred his life to me."

Yuna could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Does that mean you're …?"

"I think so." Any further attempt to figure out what happened was cut short by a kiss as he caught her in his arms and both of them were overwhelmed with tears of joy. And he savored what it was like to actually feel the softness of her lips and catch the scent of her powdery perfume when she was this close. "That was the first thing I wanted to do when I became real," he quietly told her.

"You were always real to me."

"But this time I think it's really real." When she pulled away, Tidus looked deeply into her two-colored eyes for a moment, and then hugged her closer, relishing the feel of the sun's warmth and the water's chill on his own skin. Sensation - he would never take it for granted again.

Yuna drew back and dried her eyes. Now she was the one who couldn't contain her grin. "Let's go tell everyone!"

Tidus answered with a soft laugh. "Um, ... well, I don't think that's necessary." He took her hand, and twirled her around in his arms to face airship. On cue, everyone that had been fighting to keep silent burst into shouts and cheers and ran to welcome him back.

Rikku bounced up and down with excitement giving Tidus a big hug. So, he played along by bouncing up and down, too, until she pulled back laughing at his imitation of her. "I'm so glad you're back to being you! Hey! We should have a bonfire celebration tonight!" she suggested. "I'll go tell Wakka and Lulu to spread the word that you're back! Oh, hold this for me, okay?" She gave him her ice cream cones and ran across the beach to the village.

As soon as her back was turned, Tidus looked at the cones, shrugged, and decided to finish off the full scoop that remained. "It's melting, and she's too jiggly," he excused himself when he received a flat, scolding look from Paine. "Not that one can ever be too jiggly, but she would have dropped it in the sand, and that would have been a waste."

"Tidus-logic ..." Paine smirked and passed Yuna's cone to her before slipping an arm around his back to give him a hug as well. "Don't ever tell her she's jiggly, though - not even to escape her wrath when she finds out you've eaten her ice cream - or I swear I'll send you right back to the grave if you get her started on comparisons again."

Tidus giggled at Paine's threatening welcome and tried to avoid getting the drippy ice cream on her shoulders while he returned the familial gesture. "Okay, I'll behave this time around."

"_Sure_ you will." She was doubtful, but amused, as she pulled away and began eating her own ice cream before it melted too much, too.

"Welcome back, kid!" Cid patted his back. "I knew we could count on you to come through one way or another."

"I welcome you back from way over here," Brother said, stubbornly standing out of arm's reach.

"Welcome back, man," Buddy held up a hand for a high five. "Does this mean blitzball season starts on schedule for the Aurochs?" he jokingly asked. "I was a little worried there when you couldn't hold a ball."

Tidus laughed and transferred the half-eaten cone to his other hand to return the high five. "I'll start pre-season drills as soon as my hut's done." He finished off one cone as the last of its ice cream ran down his fingers.

"Your hut's already done. Didn't Yuna tell you?" Paine answered. "She's spent the whole month working between the Forest project and furnishing the hut. That's why she was never around to see you on the beach until late at night."

Surprised, Tidus stopped licking his fingers and turned to face Yuna.

The summoner gave her melting cone a dainty lick, as if suddenly ashamed about something. "The wind storm damaged it a little, so Wakka had to do a few repairs. I started decorating it like you asked, but ... it didn't feel right staying there without you. I'm sorry I couldn't finish, and that I didn't tell you."

"Hey, but that other thing is finished, right?" Paine prompted. "We got that finished before everything else fell apart. Did it make it through the storm okay?"

Yuna's chagrin suddenly turned into a smile of excitement. "I almost forgot about that! I'll go check! That would be a perfect addition to a party tonight!"

"What ... thing?" Tidus was wary.

"We'll show you tonight at the bonfire, okay? Stay here until then!" Yuna gave him a short kiss before hurrying away to prepare her surprise for him.

"Mmh. Chocolate." He licked his lips after she kissed him. "How come I got stuck with vanilla?"

"Because those were Rikku's - not yours," Paine restated.

With doubt, he glanced to the others. None of them were volunteering information. "This wouldn't have anything to do with Shinra would it?"

"Maybe." She shrugged with a smirk and finished off her cone while heading back to the airship.

Cid patted his back. "Adventuresome sport like you, you'll like it, though. Trust me. I'll go see if she needs me to move it for her."

"_Adventuresome_? What the heck did that little twerp do to my hut?" Truly bewildered about what that could mean, Tidus sighed as Cid left. "Well, I guess I'll shower off and find some way to kill time, then. Saltwater, pond water, mud, sand, vanilla ice cream, bleh ... I forgot how messy it felt to be human." He led the rest of the crew back to the airship, but grinned over his shoulder to Brother. "'Course, you'd have to be human first to understand that."

Tidus's new happy mood was entirely too much like his old happy mood, in Brother's opinion. "Just because I'm glad to see you back doesn't mean I like you now."

The blitzball player hooked an elbow behind the Gullwings leader's neck as they walked up the ramp together. "That's a shame, dude, because I was going to be nice and help you find a girlfriend."

Brother's expression changed to doubt. "I will not accept anyone less quality than Yuna!"

"Yeah, I get that, but _you can't have Yuna_!" Tidus smacked Brother's forehead with his open palm, as if trying to make that sink into his thick skull.

More of a comedic show of frustration than anything else, the gesture brought snickers from Paine and Buddy. "Don't hold back, Tidus. Tell us how you really feel," Buddy laughed. Brother merely grumbled and rubbed his forehead.

As they boarded the lift to the cabin, however, Tidus patiently faced their colorful leader again. "Look, I'll take you to Luca for a game, and afterwards we'll go hang out at the cafe or sphere theater, okay? Surely there's _someone_ out there that could interest you as much as Yuna. And maybe someone will come out of hiding that would be interested in you. With Luca's nightlife, anything's possible, right?" He shrugged, trying to be helpful.

"But _you_ are the one who will draw attention of the girls. _You_ are captain of the champion team."

"Well, that's true, but ... No, seriously, I can introduce them to you, see? And because you're my friend, they'll know you're cool. If that doesn't work, you can always do my victory dance."

Brother folded his arms and gave Tidus a doubtful scowl. "Your victory dance is nothing but a childish butt-wiggle."

"No, there's more to it than that, but that's why they like it." He grinned and demonstrated his trademark _score _dance. "See, you gotta do it like this. Woohoo!"

Brother tried to copy the silly little move. "Woohoo!"

"That's it! Oh, hey, watch the ice cream."

Paine just shook her head.

When the lift doors opened to the cabin, the blitzball player exited and contentedly finished munching the other cone that Rikku gave him. Figuring he should probably have Shinra check his garment grid before attempting to use it again, he jogged up the stairs to his futon and exchanged the magical device for some clean, normal clothing. Then, he headed back down to the bathroom.

))((

Arantisu had been sitting in the corner of the cabin on the small stage, listening to sphere music while she waited for Rikku and Paine to come back. Now, she could hear the chatter of the crew's return and then the shower running. "Did you bring my ice cream?" she asked, standing and trying to feel her way around the airship by memory.

Paine scratched her short, silver hair, walked to the child's side, and crouched before her. "Well, we did, but ... Tidus ate it."

"Tidus ate my ice cream?" Arantisu pouted unhappily and folded her arms. "Where's Yuna? She needs to summon me so I can go talk to him on the beach, please."

"He's not on the beach. He's in the shower right now. But we'll help you smack him for it when he comes out, okay? He's back to his old self now, ... only he's real this time," Paine explained with a smile, just as Rikku came running back in the door.

"Okay, Wakka's telling everyone in the village that Tidus is back, and he'll be here to see him shortly," Rikku announced, breathless from her run. Then, she lowered her voice. "Lulu and Yuna want us to come help set up a surprise party for him down on the you-know-what." She snickered. "This is going to be great!" Hearing the shower running, she turned and looked expectantly at the counter. "Hey, if he's in the shower, where'd he put my ice cream?"

"He ate it," Paine tattled without remorse.

"What? What a pig! He's not back ten minutes, and he's stealing our food." The thief leaned on the counter tapped her fingers on it.

"Actually, it was less than that." Paine smirked and straightened her tall, slender frame.

Arantisu left their conversation to follow the sound of the shower. It was difficult not being able to touch anything to guide her. "Tidus?"

"'Tisu, Tidus is showering," the warrior reminded her. "He can't hear you from in there, but he'll be back out in a minute."

The child made a face and headed toward the running water anyway.

"Ack! No, no, no! 'Tisu! Don't go in there!" Rikku made a grab for the child, but her hands went right through her, as the child went through the door. "Gaaaah! Arantisu! You come back out here this instant, young lady!"

Arantisu followed the sound of water until she walked right into the shower. "Tidus?"

))((

Beyond the door, everyone in the cabin heard the startled curse, followed by several bottles falling from the shower shelf, and the jerk of a shower curtain. Then, they heard the echo of forced conversation over the running water.

"'What are you doing in here!"

"I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"I'm okay! Get out!"

Paine looked to Rikku with growing amusement and tried not to laugh, but Rikku's giggles were contagious.

"I'm glad that you're back, but you shouldn't have eaten my ice cream," the child scolded him. "I've never had any before, and I didn't even get to taste it. Yuna promised to summon me right after she summoned you, so that I could try some ice cream."

"I'm sorry about the ice cream, okay? Get out!"

"Tidus? I have a question."

The water was turned off. There was a long pause and finally a resigned sigh of surrender.

"When we were in the tower that night with Yuna, how come -?"

The door suddenly banged open, and Tidus, wearing a towel, stormed out of the bathroom to get away from her.

Everyone gathered at the bar laughed.

"It's not funny! She scared me to death. How would you like to be in the shower and suddenly find yourself facing a ghost?" he complained. "Can't you put a leash on her or something?"

"Well, at least she wasn't in dragon form," Paine quipped as she walked to the dartboard and removed a handful of the sharp playing pieces. "Otherwise, she might have knocked you flat in the shower like she does on the beach."

Tidus frowned and turned to face the blind child as she tried to feel her way out of the bathroom. "'Tisu, come here." He leaned forward, hands on knees, to speak with her. "I'm over here. Look, you gotta stop following me around so much, okay? If you let me shower and go see my hut, later tonight, when Yuna summons you, we'll go for a swim, alright?"

"Okay!" She grinned and walked through his body, then stopped behind him and reached forward, wondering where he went.

Tidus dropped his head and snorted in mild humor at her misjudgment. "Good. Stay out here."

As he straightened to return to the shower, though, Paine caught sight of something black between his shoulders. "Tidus?" She reached for his arm and turned him around to see his back. "When did you get a tattoo?"

"Huh? Where?" He tried to see over his shoulder and turned in a circle like a dog chasing its own tail.

Paine took him into the bathroom and turned his back to the mirror. "There."

Curious, Rikku, Brother, and Buddy all followed to see what she was talking about, as Tidus discovered, to his surprise, that he now bore the mark that his father had worn on his chest. It was smaller, but unmistakable.

"Woah, ... how the heck did that get there?" he wondered aloud.

"I'll bet it happened when you became real," Rikku gave her opinion. "Your aeon had that mark."

"Did Shuyin have a tattoo like that?" Buddy asked. "Maybe it transferred to you when you joined to make the aeon."

"I don't know. He might have." Tidus reached to the awkward position between his shoulder blades to try to smudge it, but the mark was obviously permanent. "I never saw his back."

Rikku laughed with a snort. "Gee, Tidus, I hope nothing else of Shuyin's got stuck on you."

He frowned at her for the joke, but then cautiously faced the mirror and touched his nose. "Did I get Shuyin's body when I got his life? Do I look different in any other way?"

"You know, I could recommend a good color artist to spice up that ink a little," Brother offered.

The small room suddenly seemed very crowded to Tidus. "Do you people mind? A little privacy would be nice to finish my shower."

"Has Yunie seen it?" Rikku asked. "She'll probably _really_ like it." She giggled, winked, and elbowed his ribs.

Brother snorted. "If Yuna likes that little ink spot, then I am a masterpiece." He struck a pose to show off his large blue flame art.

"No. You're more like a doodle," Paine answered.

Tidus became irritated at their delay. "Get out!"

"How rude," Rikku grumbled, turned on her heel, and left.

"Yeah, lighten up," Paine followed her out. "Your shower was interrupted. It's not like you lost a championship."

"You didn't even endure the pain of a needle for that." Brother got in his face. "Wimp." He walked away, sporting pride in his own body art.

"No, I was just sucked into a dead man's body and _turned into a freakin' aeon,_" Tidus retorted.

Buddy chuckled at the mood that Tidus now had compared to when he first came back. "It's good to have things back to normal, man." He pulled the door shut behind himself.

))((

Tidus sighed to himself and took one more worried look in the mirror at the mysterious new mark on his back. If his body wasn't made of dream magic now, exactly how much flesh and bone was his own, and how much of it had once belonged to Shuyin? "Great. Now I feel like a zombie, … and I can't even take a shower in peace," he muttered to himself. "This is why I wanted my own hut."

He wondered and worried about what they might have done to his new home in his absence. But after a moment, he smirked to himself and turned the water back on in the shower. Life with his assorted and strange friends was never dull, … and he wouldn't have it any other way.


	27. Chapter 27: New Horizons

Chapter 27: New Horizons

That evening after the bonfire was lit on the beach, Tidus was blindfolded for his surprise and led to the village by Wakka. "Don't you think this is a _little_ unnecessary?" The smaller blitzball player kept his hands before him as he walked, but he bumped into a fence post and stubbed a toe anyway. "Atch-ch! Stop steering me into stuff on purpose, man," he complained with a laugh. "That's the third time, so I know you're doing it on purpose."

Wakka gave a devious chuckle. "You did that one on your own, and pushing you under the waterfall doesn't count like walking you into that tree." Grabbing Tidus's shoulders to make him halt, he turned him to face the hut. "Okay, let's see this grand opening, ya?"

Tidus was finally allowed to remove the blindfold, and as he lifted it, he grinned to see that the whole village had turned out to celebrate with him. "Okay, am I supposed to act surprised now?" he asked over their cheers.

"Welcome back, ... again." Lulu answered with a smile, giving his cheek a kiss. "I hear you might be able to stick around this time, hm?" Setting Vidina on the ground in a standing position, she held onto his chubby fists. He squealed with delight because that's what everyone else seemed to be doing.

"I think I've kicked the pyrefly habit for good. I don't feel any different than before, but … Shuyin's gone and I'm still here – _really_ here." He grinned and crouched in front of Vidina. "I gotta stick around long enough to get you into the leagues this time, right, little man? Your dad will end up walking you into trees if your training is left up to him. Gimme five."

Vidina squealed and reached for him but fell forward to his hands and knees instead.

"Okay, that's close enough. We'll work on that coordination thing." Tidus helped him stand and walk a few steps.

"'Tisu wants to show you something before we show you the hut," Yuna informed him and gestured to the aeon at her side.

"As long as she's not asking any more questions about what happened in the tower." Tidus gave her a playful wink, then cautiously released Vidina's hands to let him stand and take short, wobbly steps back to his mother on his own. Facing the remaining dragon aeon and folded his arms. "Okay, let's see what you got."

Arantisu concentrated really hard and did her own special brand of magic to become kitten-sized - all at once this time, instead of limb-by-limb.

Tidus laughed and clapped. "Alright! You did it!" He scooped her up in his hand and gave her a congratulatory kiss on the snout. Arantisu's eyes bugged out, her claws clamped down over the spot that he kissed, and she fell backwards, so that he had to catch her to keep from dropping her. "Oh my gosh! Is she okay?"

Yuna chuckled, along with everyone else, and slipped her hands under the tiny dragon to gently waken her. "She'll be okay. I think I felt like that the first time you kissed me, too," she admitted with mild embarrassment. Setting the dreamy-eyed little dragon on her own shoulder, she laced her fingers between his and walked with him to the door of the hut, where she pushed aside the heavy curtain.

"Oh. Thought for sure I killed her." He laughed lightly as he followed Yuna inside. Pale blue ocean-colored drapes hung from the bamboo ceiling and walls. Straw mats and colorful Besaid rugs covered the floor and giving the interior a sweet, rustic scent. Some basic furniture that she had picked out was in place, but there was room for more in spite of the hut's small size. He turned to face her and saw that she was wincing in anticipation of his judgment. "I like it," he grinned.

She winced with uncertainty. "Are you sure it's not too girly for you?"

"Well, that depends on whether a girl comes with the package or not." He gave her a mischievous smirk.

Yuna laughed lightly. "Well, that depends on what kind of girl you have in mind."

"One in a short little maid costume would be nice."

Yuna folded her arms and quirked an accusing brow at his teasing.

"Okay, how about _you_ in one of those short little maid costumes."

Yuna placed her hands on her hips, waiting for him to try again.

Tidus snickered at her offended expression. "Okay, how about just you."

"_Just_ me?" She gave him another look of mock warning.

"Okay, how about _only_ you?"

"Good answer," she approved with a smile.

"Seriously, I _really_ like this," he assured her. "But ..." He looked at the traditional Besaid-style interior and was puzzled. "I don't see anything that looks like Shinra tinkered with it."

Invited to attend the evening festivities along with all their other friends, Shinra stepped forward from the doorway where the crowd was chuckling and chatting. "It's not necessarily the hut that I wired. Go behind it." He handed Tidus a pair of keys.

"Behind the hut ..." Tidus smirked at this new mystery and made his way through the gathering, back outside, to walk around his hut to walk to the jungle behind it. He saw nothing, but everyone was giggling quietly at his inability to figure out _something_, so he looked back to his only clue - the keys. There was a button on the holder. When he pressed it, small pyrefly-like lights embedded in the ground illuminated a path of illusionary stones with a soft glow. He giggled once, glanced over his shoulder, and then followed the trail through the trees down the hill to a small inlet. On the water was a houseboat - _his_ houseboat - the one that he once lived in from Zanarkand. He turned back around and looked at Shinra, speechless. "How ..."

"I wanted to wire your hut with a lot of really neat Zanarkand-type things like com spheres and stereos, so you could watch Luca broadcasts like movies or live stadium games. But when I talked to Yuna about it, she said not to ruin the hut with electronics because you appreciated Besaid's simplicity."

"She said _what?_" He looked to Yuna like a child who just had his birthday presents revoked. Everyone laughed. "You turned down a _live_ Luca stadium connection!" he complained to her.

Yuna laughed. "You said you liked how simple life is here compared to Zanarkand."

"Yeah, but I didn't really _mean_ it!"

Shinra chuckled along with everyone else. "Anyway, after talking about it some more, she suggested this. She said you would probably appreciate a place that could make you feel totally at home with where you came from. So, we air-lifted the shell out of the Zanarkand bay and took it to the Djose temple, where the Machine Faction refurbished it. We were able to use the big Zanarkand sphere at the library in the Dream Room to see how to remake the outside, and Yuna was able to pull enough memories out of Bahamut, Lenne, and Shuyin to figure out how to redo the inside. My little imaging window into the past helped a lot, but it was a lot to do in a short time. So, everyone pitched in to help. It's not exactly the way it used to be, of course, ... but then again neither are you." Shinra gave a short smile.

Tidus couldn't believe they had gone to such lengths to do such an incredible thing. Slowly, he approached the short dock and crossed the deck of his childhood home.

Yuna followed, checking his expression, afraid that their surprise had backfired. "Did we go too far?" she quietly asked. "Should we have left it in the past? I-I just thought ..."

"No, it's … I just ..." Opening the door, he entered the high-tech environment he had lived in as a child, or at least as close as the Al-Bhed technicians could come to it. The interior island colors and styles were similar to the ones in his hut, but the basic, original design of the room definitely had a nostalgic feel to it. Weights and mats were placed in the same corner where he, Shuyin, and his dad had once done morning workouts. Trophy shelves lined the low wall near the entrance ramp into the sunken living room, and some of Jecht's and Shuyin's awards had been recovered and placed there. Stacked crates and chests decorated the stair-step baseboard near the front door to make up for low storage space, just as before. A two-part, semi-circular sofa took up most of the living room while a double-sided flat-screen com sphere monitor hung from the ceiling above it.

He passed through to the kitchen and saw that party foods and drinks were set out on the counter along with fresh-cut flowers. Walking into his old bedroom, he saw that the keyboard Yuna had given him as a gift a year ago had been moved there from the Celsius. Above it, a restored holographic image of the Zanarkand Abes hung on the wall. Shuyin was among them. Below that was a restored image of a younger team - a high school team with Shuyin and Koji beside each other in the front center. He touched their smiling faces, then turned and went down the stairs to peek at his parents' room and the bathroom, where he found a restored holographic image of them, which he lifted for a closer look.

"It's more of a guest room now," Yuna explained, "but that was in here when the boat was air-lifted for repairs, so … I thought it should stay here to honor them. We were using the past as a blueprint, but it doesn't have to stay this way, if it bothers you. You could easily move your things into the master bedroom, and turn your old room into the guest room instead, if you prefer. Or, we could change everything to look like something else if this is too -"

"No," he set the holograph down and faced her. "No, it's … perfect. My whole childhood was nothing but a blur of select memories from Shuyin's life and gaps that felt beyond my grasp. Even my home was nothing but an illusion, but this … This is real." After a moment, he grabbed her hand and jogged back up the stairs to face his friends, as they squeezed one-by-one into the houseboat's living room. "I ... I don't know what to say." The way they filled the small space, made him feel like the richest man in the world. "Thank you, ... all of you."

Yuna moved to stand before him. "But … do you like it?" she asked with doubt.

"I love it." Tidus slipped his fingers beneath her hair and drew her close to thank her with a kiss.

Gippal nudged Paine. "Hey, that looks like fun. We should try it some time."

Paine leaned on his shoulder and set her chin in her hand. "I don't know. Do I have to get knocked out this time?"

"Nah, I think I prefer a little interaction. That first kiss didn't hold a candle to the second one."

Beside them, Rikku gawked and stepped back in shock. "_What?_ Did you kiss her? Did he kiss you? Or did you kiss him? Are we talking about a friendly kiss or a tongue kiss? When did this happen? Was this before or after the world fell apart? Why didn't you tell me?"

Paine looked at Gippal with a smirk. "Want to make her crazy? Ignore her."

"Details, people! I want details!" Rikku demanded.

"Let's just hope Tidus isn't going to be thanking _everyone_ like that." Wakka quipped, making the group laugh. Snickering to himself, he left Lulu's side to approach his little buddy. "Hey, you can come up for air now, ya?" When Tidus ignored him, Wakka leaned close to Yuna's ear, instead. "You know, if you need to take him downstairs or something, you can just point us to the food and turn on the Luca broadcast. We'll pretend we don't hear a thing. How 'bout that?"

Yuna finally became unable to keep a straight face and broke away to laugh.

Tidus laughed, too, but gave his best friend's shoulder a strong shove for his teasing. "What are you doing, man? Get out of my face. Worse than Auron ..."

Laughing with satisfaction at having successfully annoyed him, Wakka walked to the kitchen to help himself to the food. "Auron chaperoning your dates ... Now _that_ would have been funny."

"Wakka." Rikku followed him into the kitchen to get a plate, as well. "You're lucky Yunie's a nice person, you know. If someone was kissing me like that, and you got in my face to interrupt -"

"Nobody wants to kiss you like that," Brother inserted, as he stepped around them to grab a drink. "You are too noisy and intimidating."

Rikku's lower lip protruded as she held her plate to her chest instead of putting food on it. "No I'm not." She turned to her friends. "Am I?"

Tidus laughed and grabbed a drink from the ice chest as Arantisu's aeon fluttered to his shoulder to oggle the table overflowing with food. "Let's see ... You dressed me in your stupid nightshirt and bunny slippers, set your psychotic demon monkey on me, and you're always looking at my butt. Yeah, I'd say that's intimidating to most guys."

Rikku's jaw dropped and she cuffed his arm for the remark. "I am _not_ always looking at your butt. _You're_ the one that dropped the blanket."

Yuna quirked a brow at him, wondering when this happened and why she missed it.

"She pulled it off of me," Tidus defended himself.

"I did not!" Rikku stamped a foot. "I pulled it down to here," she pointed to her back. "But then you moved, and it fell down to here," she bent over and pointed to her backside.

Baralai had been quietly loading his plate with food beside them, but when Rikku bent over in front of him, his distraction resulted in his serving of potatoes slipping off of the spoon onto the floor.

"That's good food you're sharing with the roaches," Nooj complained behind him.

Baralai looked down and saw his mistake. "Oh, um, ..." He looked across the table for something to clean it up with. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Yuna chuckled and moved to get a cloth. "I'll get it." As soon as she said it, though, Arantisu buzzed from Tidus's shoulders to lick up the spill. "Or maybe not." Yuna set the cloth back down. "I guess the good thing about being small is that your food portions are larger, right, 'Tisu?"

Gippal gave Nooj's arm a nudge and snickered. "Did you see that?"

"Yes, I did," Nooj agreed. "He's guilty."

Beside Nooj, Leblanc fanned herself and rolled her eyes. "Rikku, listen love, you really need to stop wearing such skimpy clothing. The poor praetor can't even spoon food onto his plate with you bending over in short-shorts like that."

Baralai's face flushed. "I beg your pardon. What are you accusing me of?"

"Ehhh?" Rikku made a face at Leblanc and her open-to-the-navel dress. "That's really funny coming from someone who has to use glue to get dressed."

"I think that insult deserves the Moogle mascot treatment," Tidus suggested to the small thief. "With a dash of psychotic monkey," he added, happy to fan the flames.

"Oohoohooh," Rikku giggled like an evil chipmunk and nodded eagerly before scampering back to Paine and Lulu to begin plotting.

"Hey, when are you going to take this thing for a ride?" Wakka asked Tidus, munching his food.

"Well, I could do it now. It's part of the party, right?" Tidus held up the keys, giving them a jingle. "Let's go see what this baby can do."

He ran outside to removed the ropes from the dock and check the anchor position. Then, he waved to the people still standing on the shore to let them know he was taking it for a test spin. Heading back inside, he went down the stairs into the guest room and turned back behind them toward the captain's cabin.

Wakka and Yuna followed. "Captain of your own boat now. Who would have thought," he said as Tidus inserted the key in the ignition and cranked the engines. "Scary. You sure you know how to drive this thing?" the big man asked, skeptical.

"Of course. It's just like the one I grew up on, right?" Grinning eagerly about his new toy, Tidus sipped his drink and steered the boat away from the alcove. But as he kicked up the speed a notch and headed toward toward the open ocean, he felt Yuna hook a finger in the back of his shirt to pull it open and peer down between his shoulder blades. Apparently, the black mark was visible through the thin, white material of his shirt.

"When did you get an Abes tattoo?" she asked, noticing it for the first time.

"Huh? Oh, that. I don't know." His mood dampened into self-consciousness, but he tilted his head forward and down as Wakka also drew near to peer down the neck of his shirt and see the Zanarkand insignia branded into his skin. "Paine spotted it earlier, or I wouldn't have even known it was there. Everyone else thinks it might have been a tattoo that Shuyin had, and that it kinda transferred to me after we were turned into that aeon. But based on Shuyin's memories, I don't think he ever got a tattoo. It did come up in conversation after Mom blew a gasket about him getting his ear pierced, but that was because he was underage and didn't have parental consent. I don't have any memories of getting my own ear pierced, though. It was just there one day, … kinda like this tattoo."

"Maybe Rikku spiked your fruit punch a little, and you wandered into Brother's engine room in a weird mood, ya?" Wakka suggested.

"Or maybe it's just the mark of your Final Aeon," Yuna added.

Tidus glanced over his shoulder at her, slightly troubled, but then faced forward again as he continued driving the boat toward the open horizon. "I was meant to be the _final_ Final Aeon, wasn't I?" There was no denying that. "I mean, … the only reason they made me was to be the silver bullet to end Sin. So, I guess it would make sense that my aeon would bear his mark. And since I wasn't supposed to find a way around that transformation, maybe it's been locked inside me all this time, only showing up now because it finally happened," he guessed. "I used to dream about it without knowing what it meant, you know? Turning into some kind of sea serpent to hunt down my old man ..."

Yuna drew near. "Before we lost the Farplane, when I was talking to the spirits who knew the interior of this boat, Bahamut introduced me to your other creator – Koji's sister, Kaila. She said your ability to have dreams was their first clue that you had become something more than a memory wrapped in an illusion."

"Kaila ..." Tidus was stunned. "_Kaila_ created me? I thought it was Bahamut."

"Bahamut told me how he took a small piece of Shuyin's soul from the cavern of despair where he was entombed, but Kaila is the one who donated her first memories of Shuyin to give that old soul a new form," she explained. "Bahamut also said he's the one who gave you Yevon's magic, but Kaila is the one who protected your heart. They worked together to guide you past Shuyin's most damaging heartaches, so you could develop your own better experiences while retaining his courage and determination, … and his relationship with Sir Jecht. They're the ones who sent you to me," she told him with a smile of gratitude. "And, yes, it was to help me destroy Sin, but they also gave you the freedom to walk away. You chose to stay. And you challenged me to find another way to solve the problem. If you hadn't done that, we might have continued to feed Sin's cycle, rather than destroying it. Kaila said … she knew you were your own person because of how different your choices were from Shuyin's. She seemed to feel very proud of how you turned out."

Tidus smiled as he remembered his borrowed and unique memories of Kaila. "Koji didn't exist in my past the way he did for Shuyin, so I didn't know I had any previous connections to Kaila when I met her. She ran into me after school one day – literally. Knocked everything out of her arms. But after she offered to tutor me in one of my subjects that I was failing, I ended up asking her to the dance. We went on one date, which she said was perfect, … but then she dumped me before the night was over." He snorted in amusement about it now. "She said someone else needed me more." He shook his head at the overwhelming clarity and sighed. "I guess it all makes sense now, … kinda. She was making sure I was ready for all this – making sure I wouldn't make his mistakes. Even he said something about me being the second chance he never had." Pausing in uncertainty, he looked over his shoulder to Yuna. "Do I still look like me? I mean, I haven't turned into him, … have I?"

Yuna smiled at his silly worry and kissed his cheek. "You're you. I can tell."

Tidus felt more at ease hearing that from her. Only then, did he relax and allow himself to find the humor in it. "Are you sure? Maybe you should check other places, too." He wriggled his brows.

Yuna smiled at his flirtation. "Maybe I should." She slipped a hand underneath the shirt to draw her fingertips down his back.

"Woah!" Tidus jumped back to shake off the sensation, while one hand held the wheel and the other still held his drink.

"Tickle?" She grinned.

"Not _exactly_."

Wakka leaned close to Yuna, but didn't bother to whisper. "Luca broadcast - drowns out anything, I'm tellin' ya."

Tidus chuckled and stepped back from the helm. "Hey, take the wheel for minute. I want to show Yuna the view from the top deck."

Wakka eagerly set aside his plate of munchies, grasped the wheel, and grinned. "Now that's what I'm talking about, ya? Hey, you like speed?"

"You have to ask?" Tidus folded his hand over Yuna's, locking his fingers between hers as he led her out of the cabin.

He led her through the crowded interior of the houseboat to the deck, and then further up the steps to the transparent, partially-covered upper deck. "You gotta see this. My old man used to come up here in the evenings to talk to my mom." With a big grin, he pushed the large window aside and leaned his forearms on the sill with his face into the wind. "The view was spectacular because you could see clear across the ocean from up here, but I used to get so mad at them - at how much she seemed to care for him in spite of everything. Now, ... I can see why it's a pretty cool place to be." He looked out over the rise and fall of the cresting waves as the boat cut smoothly through them toward an unknown destination. Then, he turned his cheek against the wind and squinted through the strands of golden hair that stung his eyes. "Thank you, Yuna. I know it hasn't been easy, but ... thank you for believing in me, ... in spite of everything."

Yuna tried to sweep her own hair from her face, but the effort was futile in that kind of wind. She lowered her eyes to the shell ring that she still wore on her finger - the sweet cracker prize he had searched for a year ago just because she said she wanted one of the silly, insignificant things. She twisted it lightly and then smiled to herself. "Dreams can't come true unless we believe in them."

He leaned his head against hers, forehead to forehead. The wind continued to whip their hair about their faces in wild disarray, but their faces were warm and shielded for the moment. "I love you."

"I love you, too. ... Always."

He smiled hearing his promise come back to him and noticed her attention on the shell ring. "You know, if you want, I'm willing to replace that with the real thing."

"Don't you dare." She protectively covered her ring with her other hand. "This _is_ the real thing."

Tidus laughed at her continued stubbornness over the item. Maybe she'd change her mind if he offered to replace the thing in a public ceremony. Maybe not. With Yuna, there was no limit to her sense of sentiment. But it was her depth of sentiment that had made him feel so real, even when he was not. Tidus turned his face back into the wind, and stared out to where endless sea met endless sky. He could consider his possibilities for the future now - a real future. "I'll bet we could take this boat beyond Spira to the other ocean as well," he spoke some of those thoughts aloud. "We could look for spheres out there in that other place that looks like Zanarkand. After blitz season, of course," he added with a wry smirk and slipped an arm around her waist as he sipped his drink again.

Yuna leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, folding her hands over his arm. She squinted into the strong wind. "I'm just as curious as you are to see what's beyond Spira, but I'm perfectly content to stay here, as well." Only time would tell what lay in store for them beyond the new horizon.

The End

))((

Author's Note:

Okay, fluffy ending, I know. ;)

Thanks so much to all who read and took the time to leave reviews and share their feedback! This is the last work in this series for me (for now anyway, but I have learned never to say never). I'm not tiring of it, but as the characters age and the dynamics of their relationships change, and with Spira having gone through such drastic changes, it will be more difficult to stick to the feel of the original game, which was very important to me in these stories.

For this story, I was inspired to draw a lot of references from other Final Fantasy works - mainly _FFVII _and _Spirits Within. _So, I would like to extend credits there, and I hope those of you who are fans of those works enjoyed catching a few familiar references.

Thank you for allowing me to entertain you! I hope you enjoyed it. ^_^

M'jai


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